Live Fresh for Less by Shopping at Aldi

Kash n' Karry #707 (Pre-Delhaize) / Kash n' Karry #1737 (Delhaize) / Sweetbay Supermarket #1737 / Winn-Dixie #2425 / Aldi #2XX

1360 Tampa Road, Palm Harbor, FL

Today's post is a presentation of Pinellas County retail

     Being that my last post took us to Palm Harbor, I figured today would be a good day to head a little bit west from where we left off to take a look at the area's (now former) Winn-Dixie store. Another one of the many Aldi victims, the Palm Harbor Winn-Dixie was one of the 72 locations the chain purchased from Sweetbay Supermarkets in 2013, returning Winn-Dixie to the area following the closure of a Marketplace-era build at US 19 and Nebraska Avenue in the 2005 bankruptcy bloodbath. From one bloodbath to another, the Palm Harbor Winn-Dixie could not escape Aldi's desires to flood the Floridian landscape with more stores, ending Winn-Dixie's run in Palm Harbor yet again. Will Winn-Dixie return to Palm Harbor for a third time in the future? That remains to be seen, but as we recently learned, it's certainly not a prospect that's off the table. While we wait to hear more about the future of The Winn-Dixie Company, let's see what the Palm Harbor Sweet-Dixie was all about before Aldi ruined the chain's most recent attempt at a store in town:

     A supermarket first arrived at the intersection of Tampa Road and Omaha Street in April 1987, when a new Kash n' Karry held its grand opening. A relatively average 1980's Kash n' Karry build, the new store featured many of the usual commodities such as deli/bakery, a floral department, a salad bar, and an in-store pharmacy counter.

     The Palm Harbor Kash n' Karry opened at the very tail end of the chain's ownership by Lucky Stores, an ownership that would end in 1988 after Lucky was purchased by American Stores. Not wanting Kash n' Karry, American Stores sold Kash n' Karry to private ownership in a leveraged buyout, a move that many believe was the start of the chain's troubles. While I don't know if this store was ever remodeled away from its original 1980's decor to the early 1990's post-selloff  orange decor, it did receive a pretty thorough remodel in 2002 to the Delhaize-era's purple and teal decor, as noted in the grand reopening ad above.

     Even though Kash n' Karry had only remodeled this store in 2002, the store was remodeled again in late 2006 as part of the chain's transformation into Sweetbay Supermarket, with Sweetbay holding its grand opening on January 20, 2007. Sweetbay would remain here until April 2014 following Delhaize's sale of the chain the year prior, converting into a Winn-Dixie, which it would remain for another decade.

     The Palm Harbor Winn-Dixie was never remodeled during that chain's tenure in this building, keeping its Sweetbay decor all the way until the end. It does appear this store received a light "refresh" in late 2023 when some new Winn Win-era aisle markers and department signs were added, meaning it probably would have received a full remodel to Winn Win later in 2023 had SEG not made a deal with the devil sold out to Aldi, so if there's any positive to get out of this closure, at least Winn-Dixie didn't give this store a full remodel just for it to close a year later - a fate a number of the stores Aldi took ultimately received. Following its closure on April 6, 2025, all that will remain of Winn-Dixie at this site is the liquor store seen above, which was spared by Aldi, but will now sit orphaned sandwiched between a new Aldi and a pizzeria.

     Thankfully this store didn't have too deep of a backstory, so we're ready to press on and head inside to see what this 1980's Kash n' Karry with a "sweet" remodel is all about:

     While my previous photo was of the right-side entryway, had we entered through the left side, we would have been greeted by this sign, oddly wedged under the windowsill and partially obscured by a cart bumper. This homemade-looking sign welcomes us to our Palm Harbor Winn-Dixie, which is "Getting better all the time". When this store opened in 2014, the "Getting better all the time" tagline had pretty much been eliminated, so I found that to be an interesting choice to put on this sign. However, I guess someone needed to fill that little bit of blank space with a semi-recent (at the time) slogan.

     Returning to the right side of the store, entering though those doors, we find ourselves in the produce department where we're bombarded with remnants from both Sweetbay and Kash n' Karry. Outside of those Winn-Dixie branded produce trays under the display table, it's easy to forget what store this is with all the elements from prior tenants still hanging around!

     The "Produce Market" (formerly "Harvest Market" under Sweetbay's tenure) signage could be found along the side wall, mounted over a photo collage of fruit close-ups. I only recently learned from a commentor at this post that Winn-Dixie had to change out the produce signs in all the Sweetbay stores they purchased due to Delhaize owning a trademark to the phrase "Harvest Market", replacing the word "harvest" with an identical sign saying "produce". I was only ever in an operational Sweetbay once, so I never noticed that until it was pointed out to me. Interesting.

     In addition to the sign on the side wall, "Produce Market" got a secondary placement where the ceiling height transitions at the edge of the produce alcove, allowing the produce signage to be seen across the store.

     This store's floral department was relegated to those small displays at the edge of the produce department. I don't think Sweetbay ever had large floral selections in most stores, so I don't think Winn-Dixie scaled much back here on their own.

     Looking out from produce toward the front end, seasonal merchandise had a home at the front of the first few grocery aisles. This particular store happened to have enough space between produce and those first few aisles for a tiny patio furniture department too!

     Here's one final overview of the front end for now, as we turn our attention back to the grocery aisles:

     During the Sweetbay days, these round handing trellises would have signified the natural and organic foods department. Even though Winn-Dixie never gave this store a true remodel, at some point they did relocate all the natural and organic foods from this area and spread them out into the rest of the salesfloor, opening up the former natural foods department to serve as a staging area for pallet drops of promotional items.

     When the change happened, the trellises were allowed to stay, probably because they're bulky and difficult to remove. As such, the pallets of soda had a nice decorative prop above them, and from ground level, we have a nice look back into the health and beauty department.

     One thing I've always found strange about these late 1980's Kash n' Karry stores (as well as the early 1990's ones, which carried over this feature) was placing the pharmacy counter in the back right corner, adjacent to seafood. Maybe I've grown accustomed to seeing the pharmacies in most supermarkets located up front somewhere, or maybe I just find it strange to see the pills merchandised next to the fresh fish, but either way, it's not a place where I'd think to find the pharmacy in most supermarkets! And technically, for most of Winn-Dixie's run, you wouldn't have found a true pharmacy back here either, as this store's pharmacy was shut down during the 2016 purge - 2 years after it converted to the Winn-Dixie brand. Winn-Dixie did a nice job of repurposing the the former pharmacy counter with additional shelving for vitamins and supplements, although the shelf of wine next to that seems a little tongue-in-cheek for this department - whatever grape flavored cold medicine makes you happy, I suppose! Did the people who set this department happen to use this semi-famous photo of mine as inspiration?

     After pondering over whether the Robitussin or the merlot would be a better cold remedy, we'll turn the corner for a look at the "Seafood Market". While much of the old "Meatbay" service counter had since been converted into frozen seafood coolers, Winn-Dixie did keep a small full-service seafood counter open just out of frame to the left, located on the transition from the Seafood signage to the meat department's signage.

     The service counter and that transition can be seen in the above photo, with "The Beef People" installing their faux-Sweetbay style sign on the wall where it once pronounced "Butcher Shop" (thank you again, Kevin).

     The "Custom Cut Meats" sign is original to Sweetbay though, and appears to have been cut up a bit itself as someone wrangled some kind of tall object in and out of that stockroom door!

     We'll turn around and head back up into health and beauty, where we can see some of Sweetbay's original category signs still hanging over this department. It will always perplex me how Delhaize made Winn-Dixie remove the "Harvest Market" signs for being trademarked, yet all the category markers and aisle signs were allowed to stay, complete with Sweetbay's logo ghosted onto the background (which is identical to Hannaford's!).

     Leaving health and beauty, here's another look at the old natural foods department and the produce alcove in the front right corner.

     This store had a center cut-through aisle across roughly three-quarters of the salesfloor, ending where the aisles started to shorten due to the angled placement of the deli and bakery counters on the other side of the store.

     Speaking of the deli and bakery, returning to the front end, here's a quick glimpse at those departments in the distance, just beyond the check lanes.

     While the decor and the light bars over the check lanes are a product of the Sweetbay remodel, the floor tile dates back to one of Kash n' Karry's remodels (possibly the 2002-era remodel, as I've seen that same peach and white stripe pattern in converted Food Lions that would have remodeled into Kash n' Karry stores around the same time).

     After those few short aisles of health and beauty and the promotional displays, we enter the main grocery aisles, starting here with the cereal aisle.

     Returning to the back wall, here we can see more of the meat department's decor, which continues the rest of the length of the wall into the corner. Looks like I also happened to catch the Little Debbie vendor as he was restocking that display too!

     One thing you'll notice about Sweetbay's stores, especially compared to Publix and Winn-Dixie stores from the last few decades, is that Sweetbay loved using category markers everywhere. Pretty much every aisle had category markers over the shelves, with the design of the markers changing based on the department (health and beauty, grocery, organic, international, etc.). It seems like Publix and Winn-Dixie only use category markers in the frozen foods department these days (where products are harder to spot from a distance being in a glass-enclosed cooler), although Publix does use some specialty overhead category markers in unique departments, like international foods. The fact that Winn-Dixie kept all these category markers around from the Sweetbay days must mean hardly anything moved much since this store was converted in 2014.

     If the selection of wine over in the health and beauty department wasn't exhaustive enough to find your vintage of choice, the remainder of the analgesics wine could be found here in aisle 7.

     We're more than just beef people, we're Sweetbay people too! Even if The Beef People were kind enough to let Kevin the Butcher stay on with the new team to fulfill his meat-filled dreams, the jury's out on if Aldi kept him or threw him to the curb. I'm thinking the latter. Poor Kevin.

     Anyway, if beef is not what's for dinner tonight, aisle 9 can hook you up with some good inspiration for pasta night.

     Even with the minimal updating this store received, one unusual Winn Win-era feature this store received in the early 2020's was a "This is how we brew it" fresh coffee grinder. Located in the middle cut-through between aisles 8 and 9, about three aisles over from the rest of the coffee, coffee grinders were an early Winn Win era feature Winn-Dixie installed at some of the new stores of the time (and apparently a few existing ones like this one). Most of the coffee grinders I saw installed in the early 2020's were eventually removed, so I don't know if this one lasted until the store closed in 2025 or if it was yanked out earlier. Either way, even though Winn-Dixie tried to revive in-store freshly ground coffee in the early 2020's, it seems like this offering is one that slowly faded away as we entered the 2010's (as I remember a lot of supermarkets having these coffee grinders in the late 1990's and early 2000's, but I rarely ever see them today).

     From the coffee grinder, we'll skip ahead a few aisles to aisle 10, home to cleaning supplies...

     …before switching back to consumable products in aisle 12, home to soda. It seems strange seeing soda this far down the line in a Winn-Dixie, as Winn-Dixie's usual layout typically keeps soda and drinks within the store's first aisle or two, but that's what happens when you inherit someone else's layout.

     Nearing the front left corner of the store, we find the store's bakery and deli departments.

     The bakery and deli in this store share the same counter, although allow for enough space that there's still a full line of baked goods and deli items for sale here (unlike some of Winn-Dixie's own combined deli and bakery counters, where the bakery may get cut back to focus on the deli). The bakery's signage is located on the wall facing the check lanes, while the deli's sign (visible in the next photo) is on the angle:

     Behind the counter, the tile backsplash and the deli meat graphic is 100% 2002-remodel Kash n' Karry decor (to compliment the floor). In most Sweetbay conversions, those old backsplashes were never removed or covered, leaving some very obvious relics from the Kash n' Karry days in these converted stores.

     It's quite interesting how much money Kash n' Karry dumped into this store in 2002, just for another remodel to sweep through 4 years later. While the Sweetbay conversion was pretty light and mostly focused on swapping out the decor, it seems to show that Delhaize was doing anything to make these stores profitable. However, considering Sweetbay as a brand only lasted for 10 years, it seems like Delhaize could never figure out the trick to make these stores work under their own direction.

     With the bakery around the corner, the deli comes in along the angle (even as additional bakery displays continue in front of the deli counter). Those bakery displays appear to be remnants from Sweetbay too, as they don't look like anything Winn-Dixie has ever used in their own stores.

     Following soda in aisle 12, we switch back to non-foods again as we enter aisle 13, home to paper products...

     …before finishing out the salesfloor with two aisles of frozen foods. While all of aisle 15 was dedicated to frozen foods, only half of the neighboring aisles (14 and 16) contained freezers, totaling two aisles all together. Aisle 14's other half went to chips and snacks, while aisle 16 contained the dairy coolers opposite frozen.

     While all the other category markers in this store were the original ones from Sweetbay, like every other Winn-Dixie out there, the frozen foods category markers were updated at some point to the standard back rectangle Down Down/Winn Win ones (and from my observation, Centennial - the new decor making its debut next month - will continue to use these style frozen food category markers too).

     As we near the last grocery aisle, here's one final look across the back of the store. Pre-packaged deli meats round out the back wall as one entered the back left corner, with the wall switching to dairy as we enter aisle 16:

     Entering aisle 16, we have frozen food coolers to my left and dairy to my right spanning the left wall, with the dairy decor taking priority on the wall over anything mentioning frozen foods (which was left unsigned in this store). Since Winn-Dixie doesn't put category markers over the dairy coolers these days, the original ones from Sweetbay were allowed to stay, providing a contrast with Winn-Dixie's modernized ones across the aisle.

     Leaving dairy, we're back up front at the check lanes.

     All eight of Sweetbay's check lanes were preserved in this store, which also did not receive self-checkout at any point either. The check lane lights in this store were a special design created by Winn-Dixie and were only ever used in Sweetbay conversion stores, replacing Sweetbay's original pennant-style lights.

     Seen in the previous photo, customer service is located along the store's front wall, in front of the windows. Next to that is the store's thank you sign over the left-side entryway, only modified to swap out the original Sweetbay logo with one of Winn-Dixie's.

     And there you have it, another perfectly good Sweet-Dixie lost to the hands of corporate greed. While not one of the more deluxe remodels done on Sweetbay's end, a full Winn Win remodel would have really made this store shine, as this building had good bones and was maintained very well by Delhaize. Such a shame to see a perfectly good supermarket cut in half for a new Aldi!

     Here's one final look at the building's pre-Aldi exterior, with all of the stucco decoration a product of the Sweetbay conversion (it would have looked much plainer as a Kash n' Karry, more like this). At lot of that decoration is supposed to stay following the conversion, but with an Aldi flare, at least per this drawing I found in a real estate listing for the half of this building Aldi doesn't need:

Photo courtesy of CommercialSearch.com

     The standard modern Aldi facade looks a bit strange tacked onto the Sweetbay-era exterior like that, but Aldi has been handling the exteriors of these stores on a case by case basis. Some retain the original designs Winn-Dixie used almost exactly, while others get the typical Aldi facade tacked onto it somehow. However, we can tell from the drawing that Aldi will be moving into the right half of this building, leaving the left half where the deli/bakery were located to be someone else's problem. From what I've seen, the abandoned halves of these buildings aren't moving all too quickly, and Aldi's real estate page is flooded with listings for the empty halves of all these old Winn-Dixies. We'll have to see how successful Aldi is with getting these empty spaces filled, and if you live near a converted store and see something moving into the empty half of your local location, let us know what it is, as I'm curious to see how fast these spaces get filled or if they'll be sitting empty for years.

     Anyway, that's all I have for now. To close out the year, I'm going to be posting a series of semi-related posts to wrap up 2025, related as all the stores in question are located in the same city and not too far apart from each other. Some interesting stuff to come in those posts, but because some of them are a bit information-heavy, I'm going to be running a modified posting schedule for the rest of the year to pace myself through those posts to not overwhelm myself too much. The posting schedule for the rest of the year will be listed below for your reference, so be sure to come back next month for the start of our series about the Albertsons stores (and more) in Temple Terrace!

Until the next post,

AFB

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Remainder of 2025 Posting Schedule - 

Sunday, November 9, 2025 - Temple Terrace Post #1 (AFB)

Sunday, November 23, 2025 - Temple Terrace Post #2 (MFR)

Saturday, December 6, 2025 - Temple Terrace Post #3 (AFB)

Sunday, January 25, 2026 - Temple Terrace Post #4 (AFB)

Additionally, I will try to post some coverage of the completion of the St. Cloud Winn-Dixie's remodel to the new Centennial decor before long. I just need to get back over there for some photos of the store once the remodel finishes next month, as I'm sure you're all curious to learn more about the new look (much like myself).