Winn-Dixie #210 / Future Festival Supermarket
3116 W. Commercial Boulevard, Tamarac, FL - Three Lakes Plaza
 |
| Today's post is a presentation of Broward County retail |
The trials and tribulations of the "new" Winn-Dixie continue, as the company, now over 6 months freed from the clutches of Aldi, tries to figure out its future. While there was a small initial burst of store closures (unrelated to Aldi's antics) following the sale of Southeastern Grocers to its new owners (a joint-venture between C&S Wholesale and SEG's management team), things seemed to settle down for a while as we entered a period of relative status quo from the beguiled Floridian grocer. Come August 2025, as many of us eagerly anticipated SEG's next move for the future of Winn-Dixie, two additional stores were quietly announced as outright closures - those being stores #210 in Tamarac (which we'll be touring today) and #226 in Fort Lauderdale, on Cordova Road just outside of downtown. While we were fearing the worst, thinking another round of closures was about to come to light, it appears those two additional casualties were an anomaly, and potentially a hint at the company's next move. One thing stores #210 and #226 had in common is both were very old stores that hadn't seen a remodel in 20+ years, were showing signs of neglect, and had a few other issues of their own that appeared to make them not worth the investment to remodel (some foreshadowing there...). While the closure of two stores may not have been the best first impression for the next move, hopefully it's sign of better things to come for SEG. Anyway, while we'll talk more about the future of SEG in general later in this post, let's focus more on one of the stores that SEG decided wouldn't be part of its future - store #210 in Tamarac:
Winn-Dixie opened this store on West Commercial Boulevard on December 11, 1983, with grand opening festivities lasting throughout the month of December from the ads I found online. In addition to the typical grand opening events like giveaways, raffles, and special deals, another big bragging point for this new Tamarac store was the inclusion of an in-store bakery - a new feature for Winn-Dixie. Along with the assortment of in-store baked products, yet another new feature was the inclusion of a barbecue smoker in the deli, so with this store, you could go home with pulled pork and fresh cupcakes without having to go anywhere else!
As we entered the Marketplace era of the 1990's, Winn-Dixie went on a remodeling spree, either overhauling or replacing most of the chain's stores in order to bring them up to the latest prototype. Instead of replacing the Tamarac store, Winn-Dixie chose to expand this one, adding a small addition to the building's right side in the mid-late 1990's as part of its upgrade to the full Marketplace format. Other than a refresh of the Marketplace design that occurred in the early 2000's, this store remained a true Winn-Dixie Marketplace all the way until its demise in October 2025. Following the closure of the Tamarac store, 4 Winn-Dixies now remain with the Marketplace decor in some form as of late 2025 (3 in Alabama - Jasper, Theodore, and Eufaula - and 1 in Florida - North DeLand).
 |
| Photo courtesy of the Sing Oil Blogger |
As you can imagine, after having not seen much work over the last 20-ish years, Winn-Dixie #210 was starting to look a little rough around the edges. From the exterior this store looked fine (outside of the old logo, a hint at what decor was in-store for us inside), but once we head inside, we'll know this was an older supermarket just begging for a remodel.
 |
| Photo courtesy of the Sing Oil Blogger |
On a recent trip to South Florida, the Sing Oil Blogger managed to capture the last two photos of this store on a sunny spring day. He didn't go inside this store, but his photos of this store in the sunlight really perk this place up...
…compared to my dark and dreary photos from a few years ago, taken during a break in one of Florida's famous (infamous?) summer afternoon storms.
My visit was certainly one with weather more fitting for the ducks, two of which decided to greet me as I walked into the store on that rainy afternoon!
Thankfully the break in the rain allowed me to get a few exterior photos of this store as I walked in, as on the way out, I had to make a run for the car when the rain decided to start up again.
As I approached the front walkway to grab a cart, something peculiar caught my eye...one of these carts is not like the others!
While using a Publix cart during my trip into Winn-Dixie #210 would have had a touch of irony to it, I decided to grab one of the standard Winn-Dixie carts instead - best to not draw too much attention to oneself when photographing a supermarket, and while subtle, me pushing around a Publix cart probably would have gotten some stares from shoppers!
Anyway, after grabbing my cart, something very interesting caught my attention as I approached the front doors, something that didn't wander over from the Publix down the street either. On the glass of the doors were a set of original Winn-Dixie "In" and "Out" decals, which date back to the pre-Marketplace days! I've only ever seen those same decals on a long-abandoned store, so I was shocked a set of those remained on a still-operational store in the 2020's!
I took a few additional photos of those decals on the way out, so we will see them again soon. For now though, let's step inside and take in what Winn-Dixie #210 is all about. Walking through the front doors you're led into the vestibule, which dumps you out behind the check lanes. Passing the check lanes, this is what we see, looking across the front wall into produce, that department located in the front right corner of the building.
The majority of the produce department is located under a lower ceiling, the change in ceiling height signifying the entrance into the 1990's addition space. With the lower ceiling limiting what kind of signage could be placed on the walls, produce only got two tagline signs: "Harvest Fresh Fruits & Vegetables" on the front wall and "The Finest Freshest Produce Available" on the side wall. The second slogan mentioned was used in place of the usual Produce Patch diamond sign (which there was no room for).
With the produce coolers almost as tall as the base of the ceiling, there was barely any room for the signage that was installed here!
An extremely small floral display could be found following produce on the right side wall, small enough that Floral didn't get any mention on the wall (not that there was much room on the wall to put a sign anyway).
As I mentioned before, it was raining during the time of my visit to this store. As such, there were a series of buckets set up amongst the pallet drops off to my left collecting water from a roof leak, which certainly gave me the impression this store could have used a little work and updating.
Following produce and the pallet drops (the latter of which is most likely filling the space where a larger floral island was removed many years ago) was the beer and wine department. While beer and wine usually gets a wall sign of some form in the Marketplace decor, again, the low ceiling and lack of wall space prevented that department from getting a sign of its own too.
Aisles 1, 2, and 3 comprised the beer and wine department, with only aisle 3 being signed at the front and back end of the aisle for some reason. Due to the lower ceiling, the first few aisles in this store received the shortened Purple/Maroon-era tri-sider aisle markers (a product of the 2000's "refresh"). The original Marketplace aisle markers didn't have a shortened variant (at least that I ever saw), so those must have been set fairly low to the ground had these first few aisles been signed back in the late 1990's!
The aisle 3 marker must have been partaking in some of the product for sale in this aisle, with its number all cockeyed and thinking there's stationary for sale down here!
It appears that at some point, stationary moved next door to aisle 4, home to greeting cards and the various forms of water this store sold. Nothing compliments a Hallmark card quite like a gallon of water, right?
In the back right corner of the building was the meat and seafood service counter, which again, lacked any signage due to the low ceiling. The typical meat and seafood signage from this era would have featured the department name in neon like this, the signage clearly too tall for the set-up we see here.
Even though the wall signage itself was left out, a small awning was included above the counter to make it stand out from the rest of the back wall. The awning was painted black as part of the "refresh" this store received in the early 2000's, as one of the typical updates to these stores was to install new black colored signs and accents to some of the service departments.
Looking away from the addition, the ceiling returns to normal height across the original section of the store, with plenty of the Marketplace-era diamond signs designating the luncheon meats and more for sale back here.
Aisle 5 is our first grocery aisle outside of the expansion area, and as such, returns to the normal height Purple/Maroon aisle markers as well.
The store really opens up once you get out of the expansion area, feeling much more like a typical grocery store with the tall ceilings and plenty of signage. Here's a quick look across the store's front end before we press onward, with the 5 cash registers and the service desk visible off to my left.
When Winn-Dixie expanded this store in the late 1990's, they took over an adjacent storefront. Rather than demolishing the small storefront to build an expansion with a matching ceiling height, Winn-Dixie chose to leave the storefront as-is, just building onto the back of it to match the supermarket's depth. That's how this store ended up with the two different ceiling heights, as the expansion area's ceiling is only as high as that of the storefront there before it. That was a bit of a cheap way to do things, but I guess to warrant the expansion to begin with, this store must have done decent business back in the 1990's.
The grocery aisles were nicely stocked during my visit, as we saw in the last few photos. In the above photo in particular, I spy one of the famous round air diffusers - another 1980's Winn-Dixie staple!
Following aisle 10, we enter the frozen foods department...
Like most Marketplace-era stores with Frozen Foods in the center, the original aisle numbering would skip over frozen foods. When the Purple/Maroon aisle signs were installed, that set-up was preserved, with these two frozen food aisles remaining unnumbered instead of becoming aisles 11 and 12 like they would have in a later remodel.
While the original diamond tile pattern remained down the center of the frozen foods aisles until the end, this aisle did receive some light updating through the years, probably when the 2000's "refresh" happened. During that refresh, the pink trim on the center coffin coolers was painted white and the hanging department signs were removed, with this photo serving as a better example of what the original Marketplace frozen foods aisle should have looked like. More recently though, the Down Down/Winn Win-era category markers were installed over the coolers, a typical addition to most older Winn-Dixie stores, even ones like this that had not seen a remodel in years. Prior to the installation of those, most Marketplace stores didn't have any category markers in Frozen Foods.
Returning to the front wall, passing by customer service we find the store's former pharmacy counter. Now shelved over with paper products, this store's pharmacy appears to have been shuttered around 2014-ish per the licensure records, closing before the big 2016 pharmacy purge and long before the sale to Aldi shuttered the rest of the pharmacies in 2023. With a pharmacy closure happening pre-2016, I guess that shows this store was on a downward slope for much of the last decade. Anyway, if you look closely at the pattern on the wall, you can still see where the old pharmacy signage used to be.
Entering aisle 11, we find more paper products, as well as the pet supplies and a few support columns.
Looking back at what we've covered so far, here's a look across the back of the store and the meat coolers. Meats end as the row of upright coolers we see to the left, which were home to the frozen meats (as labeled on that sign above). Dairy picks up on the back wall behind me, continuing into the store's last aisle. Also, it appears one of the old black metal shopping carts from the early 2010's survived in this store as an employee cart, parked in the middle of this aisle and filled with cardboard.
While the frozen meats sign frame is original to the 1990's Marketplace remodel, the "Frozen Meats" wording is not. The new department name was installed in the 2000's refresh, and placed over whatever original department name was on there prior. And speaking of additional signage from the 2000's, just past the frozen meats sign I spy a Purple/Maroon-era restrooms sign as well, with the original "Restrooms" wall signage crunched down to fit in that tiny space created by the cutout!
Aisle 12 sparkles in the above photo with the way the fluorescent light shines off the floor tiles, and I guess that's fitting, as you don't want to see a dirty cleaning supplies aisle! With all the rain on this day, a number of wet floor signs were placed around the salesfloor like we see here, all of which featured the 1980's/1990's style Winn-Dixie logo.
Being across from the old pharmacy counter, aisles 13 and 14 were home to the selection of health and beauty items. Interestingly though, while aisle 13 had a sign at the front of the store, the marker for aisle 13 at the back of the store disappeared. Talk about one unlucky aisle!
The marker for aisle 13 at the front of the store can be seen in the above photo, while the one for the aisle we're standing in, aisle 14, got obstructed by the poles.
Lastly, the final aisle in this store is number 17 (technically number 19 if the two frozen foods aisles were counted). In this aisle we find the remainder of the dairy department running along the building's left wall, with PB&J supplies and coffee on the shelving opposite. While it's common to see the PB&J supplies paired with dairy in the last aisle, the addition of coffee over here was a bit unusual - most supermarkets are sticklers for keeping the coffee next to the other breakfast goods in the cereal aisle!
Leaving the dairy aisle, we get our first glimpse of the combined deli/bakery department in the front left corner:
Pictured above is the "Quick 'n Fresh Deli Bakery" department, both of those service counters crammed into this one here (and not too far off from how these department were arranged when this store opened in 1983 either). While the in-store bakery from 1983 was probably impressive for its time (considering it was one of Winn-Dixie's first), the bakery here is pretty small for today's standards. Most of the baked goods appeared to be prepackaged goods placed out on these display tables, although it looked like there was an oven behind the counter for fresh baked breads. In these combined departments, typically Winn-Dixie prioritizes the deli over the bakery, and as such, most of the counter space itself was dedicated to deli items.
The black department signage, awnings, and checkered tiles were all products of the 2000's refresh, although in the time since, some more modern displays and fixtures (like the hot bar for the chicken wings) were added.
Most of the bakery-specific signage was relegated to the jut out next to the deli counter, where we see the "Bake Shoppe" sign as well as one just for "Cakes". Prior to the 1990's remodel and expansion, the front left corner of the building is where the combined deli/bakery from 1983 would have originally been, so even though it looks much different now, the layout hasn't changed too much in this corner through the years.
Having seen the deli/bakery department, we return to the front end once again for a final look at the check lanes.
In total this store had 5 regular check lanes and no self-checkouts. Considering the lack of self-checkouts, having only 5 lanes is still a bit on the low-end for Winn-Dixie. Usually stores without self-checkout will keep 6-7 check lanes, so this may have been yet another indicator of this store's status as a slower location in its later years as lanes were removed.
Between the check lanes and the old pharmacy counter we find the service desk. While some of the informational signs over the counter obscure the main wall signage, I would like to draw everyone's attention to another Winn-Dixie relic I spy on that wall. On the right side of the service desk wall, right before it angles toward the pharmacy counter, is a piece I remember most Marketplace stores having many years ago but could never figure out what it was for - that panel with the numbers 1-8 on it. Most stores have had that panel removed in later years and during remodels, but it hung on here (although it probably hasn't been used in years). My guess is that panel was from some kind of paging system (with the number of a correlating check lane lighting up if someone needed assistance?), but if any Winn-Dixie employees are reading this and remember what that was for, please let me know in the comments!
Thank you for shopping your neighborhood Winn-Dixie, serving Tamarac from 1983 until 2025. It will be interesting to see what Festival Foods does to this store for its next chapter serving the community, but at least this store will remain a full-service supermarket in some capacity, unlike 220 of this store's unlucky siblings...
Heading back outside, I couldn't help but get a few more photos of the 1980's-era door decals as I left:
I don't know how thorough Festival Foods' remodel of this store will be, but it will be interesting to see if these decals remain along with any traces of the decor (because as we all know, the Marketplace decor has an oddly adaptable afterlife).
Following the closure of Winn-Dixie #210, the next closest Winn-Dixies to Tamarac (that are not part of the Aldi victims) are store #349 in Margate (which we toured not too long ago, about 7 miles to the north) and store #290 in the Victoria Park neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale (about 8 miles southeast) - the two newest Winn-Dixie stores left in South Florida, oddly enough (having opened in 2010 and 2003, respectively). Considering the many, many Publix stores you'd have to drive past to get to either of those Winn-Dixies, that's quite the gap being left behind, but at least a 7 mile drive isn't totally unreasonable for getting to the next closest Winn-Dixie, especially compared to some of the holes Aldi will be creating where entire Florida counties will be Winn-Dixie-less.
When you think about what most Winn-Dixie stores look like, you rarely ever picture one with an arched facade. #210's facade is quite unique compared to most Winn-Dixies, although you all should probably know my now I'm a fan of arches! In addition to the arched facade, another unique touch added to the store's exterior was the bell tower over the logo, complete with a bell too! Whether the bell was real or could be rung I don't know, but there was a decent amount of detail put into this store's facade. It would have been interesting to see how this place could have been spruced up with a Winn Win remodel pre-Aldi (as some of those old Marketplace stores cleaned up really well with Winn Win) or with whatever decor package will be coming post-Aldi (be it Winn Win 2.0 or something totally new), as remodeling has officially started up again as of September 2025. It would have been nice to see this store be a part of Winn-Dixie's future, and hopefully the new era of Winn-Dixie will find ways to add a new store or two around Broward County.
 |
| Photo courtesy of the Sing Oil Blogger |
As for why this store was closed, according to an internal source, this particular location was suffering from shrink issues. While #210 did enough in sales to keep it around this long in this form, it appears the new ownership felt that whatever investment it would take to upgrade this store to a modern standard was outweighed by the losses from the shrink, leading to the result we see here. Like I said before, at least another full-service supermarket will take Winn-Dixie's place, so not all is lost, but hopefully Winn-Dixie will be able to bounce back in some form from these last few crippling years. I'm very curious myself to see what these upcoming remodels will entail (and more discussion about that will be coming up next week on MFR), as the beginning of another remodeling campaign seems to confirm that the new management is in it with Winn-Dixie for the long haul. Now if new stores start to open, then I'll really be overjoyed!
Anyway, I wish the best of luck to all the employees of Winn-Dixie #210, and hopefully many of them were able to receive transfers to a non-converting Winn-Dixie stores in the area. Myself and the other Southeastern retail bloggers will be here to inform anyone of any additional developments out of Winn-Dixie involving remodels, new stores, and of course, keeping track of updates on the victim list. Hopefully no more total closures to report for a long, long time, and let's wish Winn-Dixie the best as the company heads into the latter half of its centennial year!
Until the next post,
The Albertsons Florida Blogger
No comments:
Post a Comment