BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph-Times-Monitor General Manager
STARKE— Southeastern Grocers, the owner of Winn Dixie stores, said it has entered into an agreement with ALDI in which the German-based grocer will acquire all the stock of Southeastern Grocers, which also operates Harvey’s Supermarkets.
“This includes approximately 400 stores in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, where 75% of the stores are located,” Southeastern Grocers said in a news release. “Following the completion of the sales process, ALDI will serve the customers and communities of Winn-Dixie and Harvey’s Supermarkets through the continued operation of the banners’ existing stores.”
Southeastern added that ALDI will also evaluate which locations will convert to the ALDI format. For those stores that are not converted, ALDI intends for them to continue to operate as Winn-Dixie and Harvey’s Supermarket stores.
After the two companies announced the purchase, Southeastern Grocers informed its pharmacists that it would sell its pharmacy assets to CVS and Walgreens by the end of the year, according to internal emails obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.
CVS and Walgreens later confirmed the deal, saying Winn Dixie would confidentially transfer prescriptions and client files to the two companies, adding that customers would get advanced notice.
Winn-Dixie beginnings
Winn-Dixie traces its roots to 1925 when William Milton Davis borrowed $10,000 from his father to purchase a grocery in Miami.
Through 1931, the family expanded the Table Supply chain to 33 stores between Miami and Tampa.
Davis died in 1934, leaving the company to his four sons.
Two key acquisitions shaped the company over the next 20 years. In 1944 the brothers completed their purchase of Jacksonville-based Winn & Lovett, which owned 74 stores. After the purchase, the Davis brothers moved the company headquarters to Jacksonville. Eight years later Winn & Lovett went public, the first Florida-based industrial company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1955 the Davis family acquired the Dixie Home brand, a 117-store operation. As part of the purchase, the brothers agreed to retain part of the Dixie Home name as part of the combined company, resulting in the new brand: Winn-Dixie.
In 1983, Winn-Dixie was the 11th largest retail brand in the U.S.
However, competition forced the chain into bankruptcy in 2005, where it was acquired by Bi-Lo the following year. Bi-Lo subsequently changed its name to Southeastern Grocers and began phasing out the Bi-Lo brand.
In 2018, Southeastern Grocers filed a Chapter 11 reorganization plan, emerging from bankruptcy 65 days after filing the petition.
In January the company filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling it intended to undertake an initial stock offering. However, just one week later, the company announced it was postponing the IPO.
Starke’s Winn Dixie has been operating in the city since the 1960s. In 2021 Southeastern Grocers converted the Harvey’s Supermarket between Keystone Heights and Melrose into a Winn Dixie.
