Winn-Dixie Comes In Like a Lion, and Goes Out Like an Aldi

Food Lion #2162 / Winn-Dixie #112 / Aldi #112

181 Blackford Way, St. Augustine, FL - Shores Village

Today's post is a presentation of St. John's County retail

     I was originally unsure of what I was going to write about for this post, as I wanted to find something that was sort-of kind-of near the old Palm Coast Albertsons to feature. With Winn-Dixie still being the talk of the town, I came very close to prepping a post on the Daytona Beach Shores Winn-Dixie one county south of that former Albertsons, that being (until you-know-who came along) the oldest Winn-Dixie left in the chain per the MFR Aldi conversion list. But as I was writing the final paragraph of my last post, the old adage "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb" popped into my head, which made me think of Food Lion, which then made me think of the St. Augustine Shores Winn-Lion, which then gave me the title "Winn-Dixie Comes In Like a Lion, and Goes Out Like an Aldi", which I thought was too good of a title to go to waste! Being one county up from the Palm Coast Albertsons, the timing, the title, and the location couldn't have been any more perfect - it was a Winn Win Win! That said, we'll take a look at the Daytona Beach Shores Winn-Dixie another time, and instead take a look at this funky Winn-Lion today (which also succumbed to the same fate as the aforenoted Daytona Beach Shores store and 219 of its other brethren). Unlike Daytona Beach Shores, which had 69 years to serve its community, the St. Augustine Shores Winn-Dixie didn't even get to see its 4th anniversary. Honestly, I don't know which situation is sadder, as a community losing its full-service supermarket in a fabulous display of corporate greed is horrible no matter which way you slice it! Anyway, we'll spend today talking about the first two iterations of supermarket to occupy this building, starting off by seeing how it came in like a lion:

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

     While it may be hard to believe, Food Lion was actually opening new stores in Florida until the late 2000's. The Food Lion we see here opened in 2009, one of a handful of new Food Lion stores to have opened around Jacksonville and St. Augustine during that timeframe. With the areas on the southern, western, and northern edges of St. Augustine growing rapidly in the late 2000's, Food Lion actually took the opportunity to enter some of those newer Northeastern Florida communities, such as St. Augustine Shores. Its only other competition being a Publix two miles to the north, this Food Lion was well positioned to capture shoppers from St. Augustine Shores, Crescent Beach, and even the northern fringes of Palm Coast.

     Food Lion's 2000's Floridian newbuilds were identical to the stores the chain was building elsewhere in its footprint at the time, down to the unusual (for Florida) all-brick exteriors, a design trait more common going further north. This style of Food Lion is called by many the "Rutherfordton" design, as the first prototype of this design and decor opened in the town of Rutherfordton, North Carolina in 2006. These late 2000's Food Lion stores were nothing like their 1990's counterparts that spread across Florida during the chain's peak. Gone were the dingy, tiny, no-frills atmosphere Food Lion had a reputation for, and in came a modern prototype with a full suite of amenities such as expanded deli and bakery, wider aisles, and in some cases, the addition of a full-service pharmacy counter (a rarity for Food Lion stores). The new decor was designed to have a "neighborhood" feel, and would make the stores feel more cozy and comfortable. Even though the decor has been changed a few times in the years since, Food Lion newbuilds of the 2020's still use a very similar design to their late 2000's counterparts, just paired with the chain's modern Easy, Fresh, Affordable (EFA) 3.0 decor - Food Lion really did something right with this design for it to still be in use 20 years later!

     Anyway, since we won't be seeing any 2020's Food Lion newbuilds in Florida anytime soon, let's get back to the Food Lion of the late 2000's and early 2010's. Even though Food Lion gave Florida one last chance with some new stores in the late 2000's, they were feeling the squeeze from Publix and Walmart, just like their fellow competitor Albertsons was. In January 2012, Food Lion announced a massive closure wave, a wave which included the complete exit from the state of Florida and quite the thinning of stores in its remaining southern expanses. Only 3 months after Food Lion's announcement, Albertsons also announced its near withdrawal from Florida in April 2012. 2012 was not a good year for supermarkets in Florida, but part of the reason this blog exists is because of all the events that transpired in Florida's supermarket scene that year!

Seeing one of these Rutherfordton-style Food Lion stores in Florida just seems so strange to me.

     Barely 3 years old at the time of its closure in early 2012, this store would sit empty for the next 9 years awaiting a new tenant. I happened to pass by this store during its time sitting empty, intrigued by the fact this was not only one of the last new Food Lion stores to open in Florida, but also the fact that it probably still had traces of the Rutherfordton decor inside.

With the parking lot palm trees hiding in this shot, I probably could have convinced everyone this photo was taken somewhere in North Carolina!

     When I stopped by here the first time in 2019, I never would have guessed Winn-Dixie would have opened a store in this building only two years later. Back then, Winn-Dixie looked like they were barely able to keep their existing stores open, let alone open new ones. While this store appeared to be a tough sell to a new tenant at the time, an identical Food Lion store on St. Augustine's northern fringes was scooped up by Publix in 2018 and promptly flattened for a store of their own. My best guess in 2019 about this building's future would have probably been similar to what transpired on the north side of town (once Publix felt the surrounding neighborhood was built out enough), so I will give Winn-Dixie a lot of credit for taking an opportunity like this one and making a go for it before Publix could! Too bad someone else had other plans though...

     Not only were the exteriors of these late 2000's Food Lion stores quite nice, the interiors were just as complimentary. We'll begin our brief interior tour of this store in abandoned form with a look into the vestibule. The exterior's brick work bled into the vestibule area, which had a high gable ceiling and a lot of natural light flowing into it. The doors we see in front of me were the entry doors, which angled into the store's former produce area.

     From the vestibule's right side window, here's a look across the space. The carts would have been stored in the center of the vestibule, between the two sets of doors. The interior exit door can be seen at the end of the old cartwell area, with the exterior exit doors funneling shoppers out the side of the vestibule onto the walkway.

     Looking up into the high ceiling, Food Lion's Rutherfordton-era "Welcome" sign remained in place above the entrance doors.

     While the vestibule contained most of the building's windows, the windows did extend toward the right side of the building, allowing natural light to enter the store's produce department.

     Having to hold my phone up high to see through the produce department windows, here's our peek at the store's interior without the vestibule windows in the way. A few Rutherfordton remnants managed to hang on in here following the store's closure, including the faux wood floors and the produce, deli, and bakery departments' hanging trellises.

     The deli and bakery departments lined the right side of the building following produce, with deli just beyond produce and the bakery in the back right corner of the store. Interestingly, Winn-Dixie actually kept much of this store's general floorplan in place, even though they did quite a bit of work to this building in their conversion. The floorplan we'll see Winn-Dixie use in here was pretty much the basis for the remaining new stores Winn-Dixie opened in the 2021-2023 timeframe. This being the first of those following the Lucky's and Earth Fare conversions, could it be that Winn-Dixie based their future new stores off of Food Lion's Rutherfordton design, or was it just mere coincidence?

     That's all I have from my visit while the old Food Lion was still sitting empty. In case you noticed the lack of pictures from the left side of the building during this visit, that's because a homeless man was camped out on the walkway on that side of the building. In addition to the Food Lion being vacant at the time, much of the adjoining strip center was empty too, leaving this to be a quiet place for someone like that to make camp. Not wanting to stir him up, I stayed to the right side of the building on this day, but I still think we got a good picture of this place before Winn-Dixie moved in.

Photo courtesy of Winn-Dixie

     Moving along to Winn-Dixie, following the chain's sudden rebirth in 2020 following the purchase of 8 stores from the rubble of Lucky's Market and Earth Fare, Winn-Dixie shocked us all with the announcement of even more new stores to come after that. After using the former Lucky's and Earth Fare stores to debut its new prototype, the first new store to follow that was this location in St. Augustine Shores, opening on December 8, 2021 to much adoration.

     While there are a handful of other Winn-Lions out there courtesy of the chain's purchase of Sweetbay's stores in 2014, none of those other Winn-Lions looked as nice as this one! (Fine, fine, there's that identical-to-this-store Harvey's in Lake City that will eventually convert into a Winn-Dixie, but since it hasn't yet, that doesn't count!). Winn-Dixie didn't change the exterior of this building any following their conversion, and I'm fine with that! (However, I can't speak for what atrocity of a subdivision Aldi is doing to this place right now - I've yet to find a drawing of the final result or see any recent photos of the conversion's progression to know, but at least Lidl knew how to make one of these buildings work for them).

     As you can tell by all the exterior photos, I really liked this store design!

     Stepping inside, one of the first modifications we'll see Winn-Dixie made was partitioning the vestibule. Instead of the open design we saw from Food Lion, Winn-Dixie added a full drywall cartwell where Food Lion's used to be, flattening out the interior wall in the process and removing the angled interior entry door in favor of one flush to the new wall.

     Even with the modifications to the entryway, the first department you saw upon entering is produce, just like it was during the Food Lion days. Instead of repurposing the few Rutherfordton relics Food Lion left behind, like the hanging trellises, Winn-Dixie decided to start "fresh" with their remodel by removing those trellises and installing their own Winn Win decor on the walls.

     The windows looking into the produce department were a nice touch too - it's not often you find a Winn-Dixie with lots of natural light like this!

     Beyond produce, here's a look down the store's grand aisle, which spanned the building's right wall. Over here we find the deli, followed by the bakery. While Winn-Dixified, this is still the same layout Food Lion had in here.

     Even being one of Winn-Dixie's modern stores, the deli and "kitchen" departments weren't anything too out of the ordinary compared to the offerings at most other Winn-Dixie stores out there. Unlike the stores Winn-Dixie was opening in the early 2010's "Transformational" era, which were designed to be showy and over-the-top, the Winn-Dixie of the early 2020's was much more utilitarian, featuring basic, clean, and modern facilities without all that expensive showy stuff most chains give up on after a few years (or even months) after opening.

     Following the deli we find the bakery, with coolers of pre-packaged chilled deli and bakery items in the cases to my left.

     According to the layout, what we're looking up here is aisle 1, the inner portion of the grand aisle running along the pre-pack cooler. From here, we also get another look at the nice exterior windows too!

     Entering the back right corner of the store, we find the meat and seafood service counter.

     From my rough understanding of how an original Rutherfordton Food Lion is laid out, one of the only major modifications Winn-Dixie made to this building's floor plan was reversing the locations of the meat and seafood service counter with those department's complimentary pre-packaged options. Pre-pack would have originally been in a small alcove where Winn-Dixie's service counter was installed, with Food Lion's meat service counter located next to that further down the left wall, just before dairy.

     Leaving the service counter, here's an overview of Winn-Dixie's pre-packaged meat options, roughly placed in the former home of Food Lion's old meat service counter.

     Making good progress with the perimeter, it's time to cut into the grocery aisles.

     As you've probably noticed by now, Winn-Dixie removed Food Lion's original tile floor in favor of polished concrete throughout. Winn-Dixie's 2020's newbuilds typically opted for the polished concrete look as well, with this store following that trend, even though it was officially a conversion. For being a conversion, the floors don't look that bad at all. I noticed very few marks and scars on the floor from any rearranging Winn-Dixie may have done in the conversion, so either Winn-Dixie paid to have a nice refinish of the floor before opening or they did so little rearranging from the Food Lion days, there just weren't any scars to try to hide.

     While the concrete floor condition was passible, like any good supermarket conversion, some inconveniently placed support poles made some places quite impassible! It was a bit awkward having some poles blocking a few of the front endcaps like this!

     Like all but one of Winn-Dixie's new stores from the 2020's, this location did not receive a pharmacy counter. However, this store did receive a very nice (and quite extensive) health and beauty aisle, complete with lit category marker toppers.

     Supplies for both babies and your fur babies could be found in the next aisle over from health and beauty.

     Our clean sweep of the grocery aisles takes us to the paper towel aisle now, with paper plates located opposite.

     Entering the back left corner of the store, we find the dairy department's beginning along the back wall, under the "Milk" sign.

     Frozen foods occupy the store's last two aisles, much in the same way they did when Food Lion was here too.

     Dairy does wrap around to the building's left wall to occupy a small portion of the store's last aisle, however, outside of that, the remainder of this aisle was home to frozen foods.

     The last department we've yet to see was beer and wine, which was located in the front left corner of the building in front of the frozen foods.

     Assorted wines occupied the outer shelves, with most of the beer was located in coolers along the wall. From this vantage point, we can see part of the front end, located just ahead opposite the greeting cards and seasonal department.

Thinking about it now, I should have worn this to the grand re-opening of the St. Cloud Winn-Dixie - it was pretty cold that morning!

     Having visited this store just before Christmas 2022, peak time for the company's "It's a Winn Win" marketing campaign and its complimentary spokespeople, the Winn Win Twinns. As part of all the "winning" going on at the time, Winn-Dixie released these Winn Win Twinn-inspired ugly Christmas sweaters that year, which also had a complimentary matching hat too (not pictured here, but visible at that second link). As much as I wanted it, I thought spending $29.99 for something I'd never actually wear was a bit steep, but fret not - AFB got himself both this sweater and the matching hat on a 50% off after-Christmas deal at his local Winn-Dixie store! Now that's winning!

Photo courtesy of siviaiz11 on Google Maps

     Possibly distracted by the sweaters, I totally missed getting a decent picture of this store's front end! As such, I pulled a few front end photos from this store's Google page, with this particular shot giving us a nice overview of the self-checkout lanes and the service desk beyond them. I believe the angled design of the service desk is a leftover from Food Lion, and that crown molding above it may possibly be a leftover from the Rutherfordton decor too.

Photo courtesy of L Cardinal Google Maps

     Like most of Winn-Dixie's new stores from the early 2020's, this location had a bank of 6 self-checkout lanes - standard Winn Win remodels from the same time only got 4 self-checkout lanes if those were added. 4 regular staffed lanes were included as well, and while only one of those were open when L Cardinal visited this store...

     …three were open when I was here, in addition to all 6 of the self-checkout lanes. I must have caught this store during a busy time!

     Like in the Food Lion days, you exit the store by getting pushed out onto the plaza's front sidewalk facing the left-end of the strip. That placement just happened to push shoppers out in front of Winn-Dixie's attached liquor store, conveniently enough. Being way out here in the plaza strip, this liquor store ended up being spared after Aldi took over the main supermarket building, and lives on today as an orphan.

Photo courtesy of Tom Whiteside on Google Maps

     To wrap up this post, I found the above photo of the store's exterior on its Google Maps page, and thought it looked really nice with all the grand opening day balloons and window art. As such, I felt compelled to include it in this post. On that joyous day, I'm sure no one would have guessed the untimely fate this store would have coming for it less than 4 years later!

     So there you have it - the soon to be St. Augustine Shores Aldi. Once I find a picture or rendering of what this store will look like by the end of the year, I'll have to add it into the end of this post for completeness, as it will be interesting to see what Aldi will do with the facade. However, in terms of Winn-Dixie, this store was just another example of how that chain constantly takes one step forward just to take two steps back. Following the Aldi sale, Winn-Dixie lost both of the stores it opened in St. Johns County in the 2020's to Aldi - this one and the Grand Cypress store just over the line from Jacksonville, in addition to losing its early 2000's build off CR 210 to Aldi as well. That knocked Winn-Dixie back to its cluster of 3 older stores right around St. Augustine proper that the company has had for years, neutralizing all the progress Winn-Dixie was trying to make with entering the newer parts of St. Johns County in the process. There's still plenty of open land in the newer parts of St. Johns County for Winn-Dixie to attempt to make up for some of what they lost, but with Publix and even Harris Teeter already grabbing real estate in the area, Winn-Dixie better not hesitate for too long before those two grab all the good sites left for a supermarket!

     Another tale of Winn-Dixie behind us, we'll see what I can pull out of the Albertsons archives for next time. Come back in two weeks for more, so until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger

Former Albertsons #4469 - Palm Coast, FL

Albertsons #4469 / Publix #1339

4950 Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast, FL - Belle Terre Crossings

Today's post is a presentation of Flagler County retail

     In all the years this blog has been around, we've explored the retail in almost every county along Florida's I-95 corridor except two - Nassau (which is the county north of Jacksonville and rests against Georgia) and Flagler (between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach). While I've passed through Nassau County on I-95 a number of times, I've yet to visit any stores in that county - which leaves us with Flagler County. Typically overlooked by most people in favor of the more famous cities (and tourist destinations) to its north and south, Flagler County is one of the sleepier counties along Florida's Atlantic Coast. Most of Flagler County's population resides in the sprawling city of Palm Coast, a majority residential town with a few pockets of retail spread in-between. Being a newer city, and in turn, a newer population hub, the majority of Flagler County's retail is fairly new too, with much of the older stuff phased out in recent years in favor of modern designs. Anyway, I didn't intend to take so long before posting anything about Flagler County retail, but that's just how it worked out. Even though Flagler County isn't home to an abundance of unique or thought provoking supermarkets considering how new much of the retail in the county is, Palm Coast's former Albertsons is actually one of the more interesting Publixsons examples out there, at least to me (but I'm a sucker for anything with Grocery Palace origins). So let's take today to give Flagler County it's time in the spotlight as we learn a little more about former Albertsons #4469:

     As I mentioned, Palm Coast is a newer city compared to many others, officially incorporating on December 31, 1999. While Palm Coast as a corporate entity only came to be in 1999, the development of Palm Coast can trace its origins back to the early 1970's, when ITT Community Development (the later name of famous community developer Levitt & Sons) purchased 42,000 acres of swamp and forest land and began transforming it into the modern Palm Coast. While Palm Coast was able to attract a few retail establishments in its early days near the "heart" of town along Palm Coast Parkway near its I-95 interchange, the city really didn't begin to blossom with retail until after the city's formal incorporation at the dawn of the 21st century.

     Following the city's incorporation on December 31, 1999, one of the first matters presented to the new Palm Coast city council was the approval of a new Albertsons store. The Albertsons proposal was brought up at the nascent city's January 22, 2000 council meeting, and amidst the new council's drama over how to present itself toward new development, passed the plans for the new supermarket without much issue, allowing Albertsons to begin construction of its new store shortly after.

     Shortly after construction on its new store began in early 2000, locals expressed to council their complaints about how Albertsons removed most of the trees from the parcel prior to construction, a violation of the new city's tree ordinance passed in April 2000. However, council clarified that since the tree ordinance passed after Albertsons' plans were approved, there was nothing they could do, as Albertsons was only obligated to follow the city's development rules in place at the time the project was approved.

     While a tree controversy is nothing new when it comes to large development projects in Florida, this one breezed through without much issue, even if a few leaves were ruffled in the process.

     Albertsons' Palm Coast store opened in early 2001, following "a brief controversy about its mustard colored exterior" (I guess if the tree issue didn't go anywhere, paint color was the next issue the locals could bring up!). The new Palm Coast Albertsons was a fairly typical 61,000 square foot Grocery Palace build, with a fancier than normal exterior featuring some extra detailing to make the building seem classier. 

     This Albertsons enjoyed a 7-year run before it was included as part of the 49 stores Publix purchased from Albertsons in 2008. Following Albertsons' closure in September 2008, this store was quickly turned around into a Publix, speedily reopening on October 25, 2008. While I would have loved to see all the obvious Grocery Palace remnants Publix kept after only a month and a half turnaround, we're not at a total loss today, where we will see what this store looked like following its first remodel that happened in the mid-2010's.

     The Palm Coast Publixsons was a completely new location for Publix, joining a few other locations Publix had in the works for the Palm Coast area that opened in 2008 and 2009. With Palm Coast growing rapidly in the 2000's, getting an extra store courtesy of Albertsons in the area was a nice bonus, especially a well-positioned, central location like this.

What's even crazier is that a week before this incident, a plane crashed through the roof of one of Publix's stores in DeLand, which also brought Publix into the national news spotlight for a wild incident at one of their stores.

     On the afternoon of April 12, 2012, the Palm Coast Publixsons gained national media attention after a 76-year-old woman drove her Toyota Camry into the store, claiming to have mistook the accelerator for the brake as she drove through the store's parking lot. The car careened through the exit doors, obliterated the floral department, and came to a stop at the front of the grocery aisles where an 83-year-old man became pinned under the car. 20 shoppers scrambled to lift the car up to get the pinned man out, with 10 shoppers total injured in the affair (although there were no fatalities or Publix employees injured). There's surveillance video of the incident posted to YouTube - it's pretty wild watching it all unfold.

     Flagler Live has a nice write-up about the incident you can read here, with the article I clipped above going over some of the post-crash legal affairs Publix got dragged into. Some of the victims injured in the crash began to consider legal action against Publix for not having protective bollards located at the front of the building, which would have made it more difficult for a vehicle to have plowed into the store like it did in April 2012. While many Publix locations have the bollards, this one did not. However, with this particular store, an interesting legal question came up - since Publix was not the grocer to build this store, was it really Publix's fault for not having that extra line of protection in place to prevent a crash of such nature? A typical lawsuit of this type would usually claim that Publix did not construct the store to a particular expectation of safety, however, it was actually Albertsons who built this store. That said, would it actually be Albertsons' fault the bollards were never installed, not Publix, and should the victims sue Albertsons instead? Being that Palm Coast does not have any ordinances requiring the exterior bollards, all these questions fell into a gray area. However, the legal professionals felt that any litigation against Publix for this incident would be settled outside of court, meaning there would never be a need to get a jury's opinion on these matters. I never found any follow-up to the potential lawsuits either, so if any of the parties did sue, they most likely just took a settlement (as speculated) from Publix.

     Following that incident, Publix did install new bollards on their own to prevent another incident like we just discussed from occurring, many of which can be seen in the next photo:

     Other than the bollards, this store looks almost exactly like it did in the Albertsons days here on the exterior. It's an extremely nice exterior too - a classy Spanish-style version of the Grocery Palace facade complete with a faux balcony. I think the facade compliments Publix well (even if they didn't think the nearly identical Albertsons #4473 in The Villages met their standards in the end - what a sad story there!)

     Stepping onto the front walkway, it doesn't get more Albertsons than this! Barring Publix's usual green recycling bins crashing the photo, as well as the Publix issued "ENTRANCE" decal and the Presto! ATM carved out of the window, the rest of this is all Albertsons. Even the address number above the door is original to Albertsons, as Albertsons always had the tendency to write out the entire road name following the number like that, something I've never seen another grocer do in Florida.

     In we go!

     While Grocery Palace stores usually had the interior cartwell with an interior set of windows like this, one thing Albertsons didn't have was the inner set of sliding doors. Those doors were added by Publix when this store remodeled to Classy Market 3.0/Sienna in the mid-2010's, and if you watched the video of the 2012 car crash, you saw those inner doors weren't there at the time. Since many other Publixsons stores had the inner set of doors added in later remodels, the extra doors weren't a direct consequence of that event, but I wonder if the second set of doors would have made any difference in slowing that car down if they were in place at the time of the incident?

     Stepping inside, the front doors open into the back of the pharmacy island, previously home to Albertsons' customer service desk and the in-store dry-cleaners. With Publix opting to relocate the service desk to the front wall next to the exit doors, the space on the back of the pharmacy island became home to assorted promo displays.

The Super Bowl soda art ad is your hint to how long I've been sitting on this photoset for.

     Turning the corner, the pharmacy pick-up window becomes visible on the side of the island facing the deli department. Like most Grocery Palace stores, the pharmacy has this dual-window set-up, with the main pharmacy counter and prescription drop-off area around the corner facing the grocery aisles.

     Turning around, here's our first look toward the deli department, located in the front left corner of the building.

     Albertsons' prepared foods counter would have been located to my left, in the space Publix blocked off with an extra-wide tea and lemonade cooler.

     Even though Publix did have the extra space on the front wall for additional offerings or just to spread things out more, they opted to consolidate all their service deli needs to the left wall, where Albertsons' main deli counter was located. The Pub Subs are located closer to the front corner, with the rest of the cold cuts off to the right.

     Even though Publix cleaned and polished this store up in its mid-2010's remodel compared to its original cheap Classy Market 2.0 remodel (which would have yielded results more like this - the stuff in the first part of that post with all the repainted Grocery Palace elements), the bones of a Grocery Palace store look really good with a nice Classy Market 3.0/Sienna remodel.

     Publix did remodel this store to Evergreen ca. 2022, and even though Publix didn't do anything dramatic to the building during the most recent remodel, I think that remodel was a downgrade overall (and I'm not saying that just to be critical of the new decor - if you watch that video or scroll through the other photos, the yellow/beige floor tiles really clash with the new gray decor, and the signs don't look so great just placed over the repainted Classy Market 3.0/Sienna backgrounds).

     Leaving the deli, produce is the next department to follow as we continue down the left side of the store.

     The coolers along the wall and the produce tables are all typical Publix spec, but even with the new fixtures, I can still see this clearly.

     Spanning the edge of the produce department between the deli and the bakery is aisle 1, which at the time of my visit, was home to pre-packed dried fruits and the bulk food dispensers. I'd have to imagine the bulk food dispensers have since been removed (especially following the 2022 Evergreen remodel), as I can't even remember the last time I saw the bulk foods dispensers in a Publix store.

     Speaking of things you won't find in a Publix anymore, here's a little blast from the past at the front end of aisle 1 - the Aprons Simple Meals counter. A casualty of COVID, Publix closed and removed all the remaining Aprons Simple Meals counters in 2020. These counters would have an employee who cooked a feature recipe (which changed every few days) to sample out, and there used to be some interesting offerings at these counters. When I was visiting 6 Publix stores a day on retail road trips way back when, it was a nice snack break when I saw one of these with samples out! (Like was the case here - the cook just happened to be perfectly blocked out by that advertisement tower!). Publix used COVID as their excuse to finally get rid of this feature, with the complimentary (although much rarer) Aprons Cooking Schools succumbing a few years later.

     After eating my Aprons sample, back we go down aisle 1 for a preview of our next destination - the bakery.

     The bakery was the one department in this store Publix reconfigured the most during the mid-2010's remodel, installing their typical 2010's bakery design into a space that once looked like this.

Publix's French bread is good, but still doesn't compare to this.

     Other than the redesign, the bakery never changed locations - it only gained a more rounded appearance and Publix's typical fixtures.

     Leaving the bakery, it's time we begin our zig-zag through the grocery aisles as we continue to explore the remainder of the store.

     At the front of the first few grocery aisles, we find the remainder of the pharmacy counter. The prescription drop-off counter is at the opposite end from where I was standing (closer to floral), with a small selection of pharmaceuticals on the shelf in front of the counter.

     Publix has a tendency to rebuild or significantly alter the pharmacy counters in these old Albertsons stores in subsequent remodels, bringing them more in-line with the Publix spec. However, probably because of its unusual island location, this store's pharmacy was hardly touched during the mid-2010's remodel, only receiving new decor while keeping most other layout elements inherited from Albertsons. The Evergreen remodel didn't change the pharmacy much either outside of the decor as well.

     Turning into aisle 4, we find international foods and candy.

     Speaking of international foods, stepping out of aisle 4, between the bakery and meat counters we find the alcove that once housed Albertsons' "International Deli". Outside of removing that branding and repainting everything, Publix still uses this alcove for the pre-packaged deli items, just minus that international flare.

     After the first 4 grocery aisles, the salesfloor takes a brief switch to non-foods and health and beauty products. These next 4 aisles, numbers 5 through 8, house baby supplies, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and such, located here due to its proximity to the pharmacy counter.

     Albertsons' health and beauty department in these Grocery Palace stores usually involved some aisles that ran parallel to the pharmacy counter. Other than straightening those aisles out to a more traditional perpendicular flow, the placement of all these products hasn't changed much since the Albertsons days.

     The health and beauty aisles are shorter than the traditional grocery aisles, and help spread all of this merchandise out better across the larger than normal space Publix has to house all this product.

That '8' is upside down and it bothers me more than it should!

     These oval-shaped category markers were exclusive to the health and beauty aisles, with the other parts of the store featuring category markers using the traditional Classy Market 3.0/Sienna green rectangles.

     At the end of the pharmacy island, closest to the check lanes, we find the floral department. The floral counter was located within the island itself, with additional displays of flowers spilling out into the main aisles surrounding it.

     The grocery aisles return to full height for the cosmetic products here in aisle 8, wrapping up the health and beauty aisles.

     Returning to the back wall, we find the meat and seafood service counter located between the not-quite-so-international anymore deli and the pre-packaged meat alcove.

     Publix replaced the meat and seafood service counter fixtures with their own, but otherwise left the design of the counter the same as it was when Albertsons was here.

     Aisle 9 is the last non-foods aisle before we return to more groceries. Here in aisle 9, we find greeting cards, magazines, books, and party supplies.

     In aisle 10, we find more groceries. Back in the Albertsons days, this area would have been home to the walk in beer coolers and the wine cellar. One of the largest modifications Publix made to this store's layout since taking over the building was removing all the old beer coolers from this location in the center of the store and moving the alcohol elsewhere in the building.

     You can start your day right with the items for sale in aisle 12.

     Following the check lanes, we see the wine and frozen foods departments on the right side of the store, departments we'll see more of in a little bit.

     Pet supplies are located in aisle 13, relocating here from the front right corner (where the wine department is now) following Publix's modifications.

     Packaged meats are located in the second alcove pictured here along the back wall, squeezed between the meat and seafood service counter and the dairy department.

     Back to the grocery aisles, it's time for paper products in aisle 15.

     Skipping over a few more aisles of cleaning supplies and other non-foods et cetera, we end up in aisle 18, home to both chilled and not-chilled beer.

     Even though Publix ripped out the curvy transition ceiling, frozen foods are still located in this store's last two aisles - numbers 19 and 20.

     Aisle 20 contains the remainder of frozen foods, but frozen foods also share that aisle with dairy, which runs along the wall. While most of dairy is located in aisle 20, the milk coolers are located on the back wall. Even though it's nothing more than a brown box now, Publix actually preserved the old coolers from Albertsons' original dairy barn - an interesting little remnant, but probably only one a really sharp-eyed Albertsons fan would even pick up on!

     Turning the corner, here's a look down the store's last aisle, aisle 20, with the dairy coolers to my left.

     The coolers with the doors represent the remainder of frozen foods in aisle 20.

     While it comes close, this store is one aisle short from tying the record for the highest aisle count in a modern Publix store. The Blue and Green Awnings revival stores Albertsons built in the 2002-2003 era were slightly larger than these Grocery Palace builds, and Publix managed to squeeze 21 aisles out of some of those stores Albertsons built near the very end of their Floridian store-building tenure.

     Leaving the grocery aisles, here's a nice overview of the Wine department, located in the front right corner of the store in Albertsons' original pet department.

     Along the front wall, Albertsons' photo counter would have been located just beyond what's now the end of this wine aisle, followed by the video rental alcove and a space reserved for a bank. Publix opted to close in most of the front-end service space for their own offices and converted what was the bank space into the modern service desk.

     Even though this is a nearly 60,000 square foot store, there really isn't a lot of excess space Publix struggled to fill in here. This area in front of the wine department was one of the largest voids I saw, and it really wasn't that bad - a bit spacious, but nothing a large display of Pringles couldn't fix!

     And not only was there a large display of Pringles over here, but there was also a person in-store giving out samples of Pringles at that table too! Looks like in addition to the chip samples themselves, they were also giving away free Pringles can holders (which probably come in handy during the BOGO sales). While those may have been convenient for people stocking up on Pringles, nothing was more fun than carrying around a more snackable size serving of Pringles in one of these!

     Tangents about artificial potato chips aside, we've now entered the store's front end. At the time of my visit, this store had 11 full-service check lanes, on the higher side for a Publix. Following the Evergreen remodel that number probably went down with the installation of the self-checkout lanes, but knowing Publix, there are probably still 7-8 staffed lanes in place following that change.

     The modern service desk is located in the space Albertsons would have reserved for a bank. While some Grocery Palace stores did have a bank for a short period in the early 2000's, many stores just kept this area as a built-out (but never used) space.

     Heading toward the exit, here's a less-obstructed look toward the service desk. The service desk is a pretty typical Publix design, and it seems like Publix usually leaves the service desk along the front wall in these old Grocery Palace stores instead of moving the desk to an island like they would do in many stores during mid-2010's remodels.

     Back outside, off to the right side of the building is the liquor store, featuring architecture that matches the main store's facade.

     Publix kept Albertsons' original swinging doors in place over here. Publix is hit or miss when it comes to replacing the doors on the old liquor stores, but it's always nice to see the original ones sticking around.

     Now that we've covered the main store, let's take a moment to check out the former Albertsons Express, located next to the liquor store facing Belle Terre Parkway:

Photo courtesy of Google Street View

     After closing in 2008 with the other Albertsons Express stations, this station went through a few unsuccessful stints under independent ownership, operating a few different times in the late 2000's and early 2010's as a Citgo before pivoting to off-brands in the late 2010's and early 2020's. Nothing ever lasted long here after Albertsons Express, and as of early 2025, the station is still sitting empty, the most recent capture from Google Streetview featured above.

     Other than an unsuccessful rebrand of the convenience store to "SQRL" ca. 2023, the station was just as empty and abandoned in that GSV image as it was when I came through here in 2019. Being located adjacent to a busy Publix at the equally as busy intersection of Belle Terre Parkway and Palm Coast Parkway Eastbound, I don't know why nothing has ever lasted long here since 2008.

     For whatever reason, I only took these two photos from the car when I was here. I should have walked up to the windows to see if any Albertsons Express remnants remained inside the convenience store, but I didn't think to do so at the time. Even if I can't speak for the Albertsons remnants, it does look like one of the previous tenants left a lot of stuff in there!

     Now that we've seen the old gas station, let's finish up this post with some aerial images, starting with some Bird's Eye imagery courtesy of Bing Maps:

Front - The main store depicted with the old Albertsons Express off to the side

Right Side

Back

Left Side

     And now for some historic aerial images, courtesy of Google Earth:

Former Albertsons #4469 - 2023

Albertsons #4469 - 2008

Albertsons #4469 - 2005

Future Albertsons #4469 - 1999

     Overall, I'd have to say this was a really nice Publixsons - at least, until it remodeled to Evergreen. I haven't been to this store since the Evergreen remodel so I can't fully judge the new feel of this place, but the few pictures I linked to earlier didn't look very promising. Even if there is some clash between the Evergreen decor and the Classy Market 3.0/Sienna remnants these days, at least the building still looks and feels much like a Grocery Palace Albertsons in many ways, and I'll take a half-hearted Evergreen remodel to one of these buildings over Publix's alternative to that any day!

     Anyway, I believe there's an old saying that goes "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb". I personally think March goes out like a lion, but that's all I'm going to say in reference to our next destination on the blog - come back in two weeks for more about that!

So until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger