Albertsons #4324 / Winn-Dixie #644
1640 US Highway 19 North, Holiday, FL
After all those Publixsons stores we've seen lately - from the average to the foreign and to some about to meet the wrecking ball - it's time for a break, don't you think? Amongst all those Publixsons stores is another rarer, much more exotic type of Albertsons reuse, and that's the Winn-Dixiesons (or is it an Albert-Dixie?). While there are over 60 Publixsons stores out there (hence why we see so many of those on AFB), only 3 Winn-Dixiesons exist. With Winn-Dixie not in much of a position to buy and open new stores in the late 2000's when Albertsons was shedding the most stores in Florida, the Winn-Dixiesons became the rare breed it is. All 3 Winn-Dixiesons were products of some of Albertsons' earliest Floridian failures from the 1990's and the turn of the millennium, and are an oddly refreshing take compared to all the Publixsons stores out there. We've seen one Winn-Dixiesons on the blog already, a long, long time ago (over 9 years ago, to be exact), so we're way overdue for another look at how The Beef People can pull off a store in a former Albertsons building.
However, before we get too deep into what Winn-Dixie did to this building, let's go all the way back to the beginning, to the days of Albertsons #4324. Albertsons #4324 opened on August 9, 1978 as the first Albertsons store in Pasco County. Located just over the border from Pinellas County on US 19, the small enclave of Holiday was the perfect spot for an Albertsons store to compliment the company's strong cluster of stores being developed just to the south in Pinellas. Store #4324 would attract shoppers from not only Southern Pasco County, but also the northern Pinellas County cities of Tarpon Springs and Palm Harbor. Positioned at the intersection where US 19 and US 19 Alternate split (two of the most important North-South routes through the Pinellas Peninsula), Albertsons #4324 had a lot of potential from a real estate perspective.
However, unlike Pinellas County to the south, a county which could be argued as Albertsons' best performing market in Florida, Pasco County had a much harder time embracing Albertsons' new large-format one-stop-shop "stores of the future". Both of Albertsons' original Pasco County stores - #4324 and the infamous #4340 in Port Richey (which opened two years after this one) were shut down by Albertsons at the turn of the 1990's. #4340 was the first to close in 1990 after a 10-year run, and #4324 followed suit a year later on April 26, 1991. The closure of the Port Richey and Holiday Albertsons stores pulled Albertsons out of Pasco County entirely, however, Albertsons would return to Pasco County a year later with the purchase of the 7 Floridian Jewel-Osco stores in 1992, a purchase which gave Albertsons a store in Hudson (#4403).
Albertsons must have known for a while this store was on its way out and was searching for a new tenant to take the space, as per duckman66's research, Winn-Dixie held its grand opening in the old Albertsons building on May 16, 1991 - only three weeks following the closure of Albertsons. The new Winn-Dixie Marketplace served as a replacement for an older store located next door at Pappas Plaza - a big upgrade for that tiny 1960's Winn-Dixie! With only a three week gap between Albertsons' closing and Winn-Dixie's opening, I can only imagine the changeover was pretty cheap for that new Marketplace store, and I'd have loved to see what the interior of this store looked like for the first few years it was in business. I'm sure in those early days, the original Albertsons layout was preserved, probably with a cheap Neon Marketplace decor installation like this throughout the store. Anyway, back in the 1990's, Winn-Dixie had much deeper pockets than they do now, and the company was almost as crazy with store remodels back then as Publix is now, with many stores getting full remodels (or in some extreme cases, complete replacements) every 6-8 years. By the late 1990's Winn-Dixie had remodeled this store once again with a more thorough conversion into the top-of-the-line (for the time) Winn-Dixie Marketplace + Food Pavilion format. These 1970's Albertsons stores are about the same size as the largest of Winn-Dixie's own Marketplace stores, so there was plenty of room to add the Food Pavilion to this building. In the process of adding the Food Pavilion the store's interior layout was heavily reconfigured, so what we'll be seeing inside today is a weird combination of Albertsons relics mashed up with a typical late 1990's Winn-Dixie Marketplace layout.
Even with the fairly extensive late 1990's remodel, the exterior of the building is still mostly original to Albertsons. Since this was an early Albertsons closure, Albertsons never had the chance to remove the bank of windows along the front of the building or reconfigure the entrances. Besides Winn-Dixie switching out the original swinging doors with sliding ones and installing a curved glass solarium over the front walkway, what we see here is basically what the exterior would have looked like in the Albertsons days (and minus the bright red paint too). Considering how rare Winn-Dixiesons are, it's kind of strange seeing one of these old 1970's Albertsons buildings housing a Winn-Dixie, especially after becoming so numb to seeing this all the time! However, the oddities of this store extend well beyond the facade, as inside we'll begin to notice that there's more to the seemingly typical 1990's Winn-Dixie layout beyond what our first impressions may show:
Entering the store through the right side doors, we encounter a large section of weekly promotional and BOGO deals, followed by produce in the front right corner. From the vantage point in the photo above, we're looking from produce toward the front check lanes, with the ubiquitous Winn-Dixie Marketplace check lane drop ceiling front and center.
Floral is located in a small nook next to the entrance, as we see above behind all the beer and soda deals. Food Pavilion stores built by Winn-Dixie typically had wine in a small alcove where Floral is here (with floral on the right side wall between produce and the bakery), but that nook looks way to small to have ever been home to an extensive wine department. I believe floral may have been moved to this spot in the store's Post-Bankruptcy remodel from its Food Pavilion-era home next to the bakery, when the original location of Floral was converted into a natural foods department. Considering this store was a bit odd due to it being inherited from Albertsons, what's now the floral nook could have been home to something else originally, like a photo counter.
Oh well, there's really no use whining about where wine used to be, as these days wine has a nice new home just beyond the deli at the back side of the Food Pavilion. However, before we get to the slightly more potent grapes, we'll have to pass by the grapes in their original form as we turn our attention now to the produce department. Moving further into the front right corner of the store, we find this interesting sight - some construction going on in the produce department. While I was here, Winn-Dixie was in the process of adding a liquor store to this building, carving the new liquor store into the front right corner. While some space from the produce department was sacrificed in the name of booze, Winn-Dixie couldn't have picked a better spot for the new liquor store, as it was being built in the same spot where Albertsons' original liquor store was located. Back in the Albertsons days, from our vantage point above, we'd have been looking toward the store's side entrance, tucked into which would have been the old liquor store. When we return outside we'll catch a few glimpses at relics from Albertsons' liquor store, but even prior to the construction we see here, the interior remnants of the original liquor store and side entrance were pretty well covered over during the Food Pavilion remodel.
With a fairly clear view into the construction area behind the produce cooler, I was hoping some kind of long-lost Albertsons relic may have been exposed, but all I saw was a lot of dangling wires, some Down Down produce signage about to meet its end, and some other exposed supermarket guts, but nothing distinctively from Albertsons.
Turning the corner, it was pretty strange seeing the Down Down "Fruit & Vegetables" sign chopped in half like this, so I guess once the remodel was finished, Winn-Dixie would only be selling vegetables if you went by this sign! I'm actually quite curious to see what Winn-Dixie did with the produce signage in this store after the liquor store was completed, as Down Down had already been retired in favor of the Winn Win decor by the time construction began on this project in mid-2021. I can't find any updated photos of this area online either, so I wonder of Winn-Dixie dusted off the old Down Down stencils for the new produce signage, of if this store now has a green Winn Win produce department amongst all the Down Down signs.
From the front right corner of the building, here's a look from produce into the "Food Pavilion". The "Food Pavilion" may not be super impressive looking today (especially with the stripped down services, the rather blah look of a cheap Down Down remodel, and a chunk of the front corner removed for a new liquor store), but back in 1998 this would have been an impressive (and very pastel) sight.
I'd suspect most of this store's deluxe Food Pavilion offerings like the fruit bar, the soup and salad bar, and the "Deli Cafe" were all either removed or barely functional by the time this store remodeled to the Post-Bankruptcy decor in the late 2000's. The very front of the deli island would have originally been home to the "International Cheese Shop", which by the time of the Post-Bankruptcy remodel, was absorbed into the deli as additional space for prepared foods. That part of the island still serves the same function today, but the prepared foods section of the deli was rebranded in the Down Down remodel as the "Kitchen".
With the deli in the island, the bakery was relegated to the building's right side wall to complete the Food Pavilion "grand aisle". Just to give you an idea of how much effort Winn-Dixie put into remodeling this store to the Food Pavilion layout, all the service departments you see here used to be on the other side of the building when Albertsons was here (and in Winn-Dixie's earliest days). Winn-Dixie flipped around all the service departments in this store so everything conformed to the standard Marketplace Food Pavilion layout. Where I stood to take the photo above would have been home to Albertsons' Health and Beauty/General Merchandise items, with the pharmacy on the back wall where Winn-Dixie's seafood counter is now. Winn-Dixie actually put a lot of work into this building (and the same holds true for the other 2 Winn-Dixiesons as well) compared to what we ever see Publix do to one of these buildings - if Publix wanted to flip around all the departments in one of these old Albertsons stores, they'd just do this instead.
Here's a close-up of the bakery department on the right wall. While the presentation and decor in the bakery might be different today than it was following the original construction of the Food Pavilion, the selection of baked goods today still looks pretty comparable to what was offered back then.
With the deli eventually expanding into most of the island, it's become a quite the spacious department. I feel the low-rise coolers surrounding the deli counter make it feel larger and more open today than it would have looked in the Food Pavilion days (and here's a comparison photo from the Post-Bankruptcy days as well).
While the deli counter itself looks quite spacious, this store's Food Pavilion was a bit narrower than one that would have been featured in a new-build store of the same design. As such, the grand aisle itself felt a bit cramped while I was here with all these displays in the middle of the aisle, and losing a chunk of space for the new liquor store wasn't helping either. There was a decent crowd in this store too while I was here, so all those people lingering in the grand aisle weren't helping with maneuvering in this department either! (Yes, Winn-Dixie does draw a crowd now - it's quite amazing what brand re-imaging can do when it's done right!)
Sliced bread occupies a shelf in the middle of the grand aisle, somewhat of an odd placement for that, but I guess it makes sense putting that near the bakery. Beyond that, however, is what most people would probably consider to be even more impressive than sliced bread - the beer department.
Chilled beer coolers line the right wall following the bakery, with a few pallet drops of beer in front of that. Wine was tucked in an alcove next to the deli in the center island, in what used to be home to the Food Pavilion seating area. However, considering this store's odd lineage and the lack of space up front for the original Wine Cellar, I don't know where wine originally was following this store's Food Pavilion remodel (possibly in one of the grocery aisles, as I can't think of any other place it would have been).
Rounding out the grand aisle we find the meat and seafood counter located in the back right corner of the building, approximately where Albertsons' pharmacy counter used to be - this corner transitioning from selling fish oil pills to the real thing!
Back in the day the seafood counter was much more interesting to look at, but the current Down Down design has a sleek look, even if the wall decor itself is just a red painted wall with the word "SEAFOOD" stenciled onto it.
Beyond the meat and seafood service counter, the meat coolers continue to extend down the back wall as we transition out of the grand aisle. As move further along into the rest of the store, that's where some of this store's Albertsons lineage begins to creep back out...
If you read this blog enough, as we leave the Food Pavilion, it should be very apparent the one key feature we see here that makes this store still feel a lot like an Albertsons today, even after Winn-Dixie moved all the departments around. Do you see it?
If the high ceilings and fluorescent tube light strips are what caught your eye, then you're only one step away from knowing too much about old Floridian supermarkets! With how thorough Winn-Dixie was with everything else in the late 1990's Food Pavilion remodel, I'm surprised they didn't bother to replace Albertsons' original lighting over the main salesfloor, especially since the Food Pavilion area got the standard-issue Winn-Dixie Marketplace rectangular lights of the time. I guess in the end replacing all these tube strips with the rectangular panels probably wouldn't have made much of a difference in terms of brightness, unlike when Publix swaps out Albertsons' original lights for their slightly dimmer ones.
Anyway, lighting aside, the photo above shows us the store's first grocery aisle, which runs along the back wall of the deli island. Aisle 1 is home to soda and other soft drinks, which is a pretty typical placement for those products in a Food Pavilion-era Winn-Dixie. However, staring all all these bottles of warm soda, do you know what some people call a warm soda?
Soda-pressing! (Ok, fine, the soda aisle probably isn't the best place to be picking up cheesy jokes, as cheesy jokes are best saved for the dairy department).
Approaching the front of aisle 1, we find the store's "Dollar Shop" - a common addition to stores that remodeled to Down Down in the late 2010's (particularly larger-sized stores).
From the Dollar Shop, here's a look across the front of the store (where the ceiling above the check lanes makes this building feel much more like a 1990's Winn-Dixie than a 1970's Albertsons).
The Dollar Shop spans the front ends of both aisles 1 and 2, with the aisle 1 side containing food products and aisle 2 containing the non-food items for the Dollar Shop. Also, much like Dollar Tree (or should I say, $1.25 Tree), Winn-Dixie's "Dollar Shops" also bumped prices up to $1.25 each for everything sold in this department around the same time Dollar Tree did.
The back wall of the building is home to the meat coolers, with a few meat coolers out in the middle of the aisle as well. One little oddity about the back wall is that when Albertsons was here, the meat coolers would have been set back just a little bit from the upper wall, like this. It appears Winn-Dixie moved the wall further back (presumably during the big Food Pavilion remodel) to extend the grocery aisles and allow for a wider back aisle. That maneuver may have also come at the expense of some backroom space, as well as the upper level mezzanine offices these 1970's Albertsons stores usually had, as I no longer see the windows at the top of the wall (unless they were only covered over).
The one bad thing about Winn-Dixie's Down Down decor is that is looks really bland at times, as everything just looks so white in this photo, with the bags of chips providing us with most of the color we see.
The flooring in this store is a carryover from its Post-Bankruptcy days, as Down Down remodels weren't known for replacement of the floors outside of the produce department, leaving us some interesting results at times. Thankfully the recent Winn Win remodels have been a bit more thorough on that front, as Marketplace decor remnants don't pair well with stark red walls!
This store must do decently well for Winn-Dixie, as the Down Down remodel bought about this store's 4th decor package over its 32 years in business. There are still a handful of Winn-Dixie stores out there waiting for their first remodel in almost 30 years, however, I have to give Winn-Dixie a lot of credit for giving the vast majority of those stores a refresh over the last few years, with many more remodels in the works for the remainder of this year too.
Even though I talked over it at the last photo, frozen foods begin in aisle 5 with a row of coolers lining one side of that aisle. Aisle 6 is completely dedicated to frozen foods, giving this store an aisle and a half of such goods. Even though this store's frozen food department is located in the middle of the store, Frozen Foods still managed to get a wall sign of its own on the back wall (which could have been lined up better with the actual department, but I guess it's close enough).
Looking into the store's back left corner, here we can bring home the bacon (along with some milk to wash it all down).
Pet supplies were located in aisle 8, with health and beauty off in the distance ahead:
The Down Down beauty departments are a nice pop of blue amongst all the red and white elsewhere in the store. The lit shelving toppers and the matching blue category markers give this department a nice cohesive feel all of its own.
From health and beauty, here's a look toward the customer service desk. Behind the desk is a row of frosted windows, behind which were (presumably) offices to replace the ones formerly on the back mezzanine.
From this perspective, the bacon is just calling you over, trying to draw your attention away from all the baby food and paper products located in this aisle.
Leaving the grocery aisles, here are a few final photos showing off the back of the store.
YonWoo was able to provide us with a perspective of the store's back wall from the Post-Bankruptcy decor days, although the swapping of the decor was the only major change to this building between his visit and mine.
Another oddity about this store (at least from a Winn-Dixie perspective) is that the last aisle is just a plain single aisle. 1990's Marketplace stores typically had a wide double aisle serving as the store's last aisle, so it's strange seeing a Marketplace era design with such a narrow last aisle! What's even crazier is that back in the Albertsons days, from where I was standing we would have been looking toward the bakery and deli counters from the back of produce - you'd never guess that was the case these days. Unfortunately there aren't any photos out there of what this store looked like when all those departments were still over here, but here's another Post-Bankruptcy era photo from YonWoo showcasing the dairy aisle from those days.
Finding ourselves at the front left corner of the building, we now find the pharmacy counter.
What's now the pharmacy counter would have been a part of the deli when Albertsons was still here, this corner going from pushing the prosciutto to popping the pills.
A few short aisles of pharmaceuticals were located in front of the pharmacy counter, beyond which we see the store's front end yet again.
In total Winn-Dixie had 6 full-service check lanes with 4 self-checkout lanes in addition to that, with pallets of soda and other BOGO deals filling the space where additional check lanes were housed in this store's early days.
With our interior tour complete, let's check out a few more things outside before we begin to wrap up our holiday to Winn-Dixiesons...
As I mentioned earlier (and was visible in some of the first few photos of this post), Winn-Dixie was in the process of adding a liquor store to the building while I was here. Construction of the new liquor store was still pretty early in the process while I was here, however, Google Streetview does have some imagery showing the liquor store now open (with the Dollar Shop sign getting bumped in favor of the Liquor store's new sign).
The new liquor store opened in late 2021, in the same place where Albertsons would have moved the liquor store in one of their later remodels (had Albertsons held onto this store into the early 2000's). When Winn-Dixie first took over this store from Albertsons in 1991, they had yet to dabble with liquor stores on their own (I believe the first of those opened sometime in the late 1990's, as some late-era Marketplace stores had liquor stores built in). The original Albertsons liquor store most likely sat abandoned until the big Food Pavilion remodel, when it was ripped out to be absorbed into additional salesfloor space for the new Food Pavilion.
And while there may no longer be any traces of the old liquor store inside the building, the wall jutting out from the side of the building is a pretty good reminder of what was on the exterior! If you look closely at the above image, you can see where the bricks don't quite match where the side entrance and liquor store window was covered, and the ramp leading to the side entrance is still in place too.
While this odd wall might seem out of place these days, it's a fun little reminder of this store's history for people who do know the secrets of this building's past.
Here's an overview of the store's entire right side wall, which is still quite original to Albertsons in terms of design.
With one final overview of the store's exterior, that does it for my ground coverage of this Winn-Dixiesons. Now we'll start to bring things to a close with some satellite imagery of this building, beginning with some bird's eye satellite images courtesy of Bing Maps:
Front
Right Side
Back
Left Side - Since this store backs right up that trailer park, the loading docks were moved to the left side of the building.
And now for some historic satellite imagery, courtesy of Google Earth and historicaerials.com:
Former Albertsons #4324 - 2021
Former Albertsons #4324 - 2012
Former Albertsons #4324 - 2002
Former Albertsons #4324 - 1998 - Business at Winn-Dixie has been picking up lately, but not quite to the extent like we see here in 1998! This store was doing something right back then to pack in all those people!
Former Albertsons #4324 - 1995 - Winn-Dixie must have been on to something with that Food Pavilion is this was the kind of crowd it drew!
Albertsons #4324 - 1984
Future Albertsons #4324 - 1971
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| Photo courtesy of YonWooRetail2 |
We'll wrap up today's post with this interesting photo YonWoo put together showing us what the building looks like as a Winn-Dixie compared to when it was an Albertsons (and that photo on the bottom is actually of #4324, and not a similar looking store). I doubt this store changed much during its 12-year run as an Albertsons, and I'm sure the original 1970's signage lasted until the store closed for good in 1991. Even though this store was a big flop for Albertsons, Winn-Dixie has enjoyed a vast amount of success with this store over the last 32 years. Hopefully our Winn-Dixiesons will continue on for many years to come, keeping this rare breed of Floridian Albertsons reuse out there for our enjoyment!
Since I haven't posted about Winn-Dixie in a while (today's post was my first Winn-Dixie related post in almost a year), we'll be doing a Winn-Dixie double take here on AFB for the month of May. While next time I may not have another Winn-Dixiesons up my sleeve, I do have some other funky Winn-Dixie stores to share with you. What Winn-Dixie will we see next time - come back in two weeks to find out!
So until the next post,
The Albertsons Florida Blogger
For some reason, I'm wanting to call this an Alber-Dixie, but I suppose Winn-Dixiesons is a better fit with the precedent of Publixsons, Krogertsons, and Randalbertsons. Well, maybe the last one is a bit of an outlier, but not by much! There is the matter of calling a Winn-Dixiesons 'The Albertsons People', but that just seems strange!
ReplyDeleteIt is rather strange seeing an old 1970s Albertsons with a power alley! I'm glad Sing Oil explained those Winn-Dixie power alleys otherwise I really would have been confused! It is kind of neat seeing that power alley, but I must admit seeing the big hole in the wall in the produce department does kind of ruin the scene! It seems the fruits part of fruits & vegetables are fermenting into wine here in this photo! Oh well, while The Beef People have never been accused of being The Produce People, it is a bit strange to see produce lose a little bit of room for alcohol in an era where most grocers are trying to push how healthy their foods are (usually with some kind of Krispy Kreme display blocking the healthy stuff, but oh well, lol), but perhaps this is to be expected given some of the GreenUnWise posts Sing Oil has been posting lately.
Back to the topic of the 1970s Albertsons, there is something fitting about that old photo at the bottom focusing in on the Albertsons and a Ford Pinto. Perhaps that is a fitting car to describe this Albertsons. Well, it didn't catch on fire, but it was a bit of a bust at least, lol.
I'm not really much of a Down Down fan and it really doesn't look very good here. Oh, sure, it is probably better than, say, Golden Girls Marketplace decor, but Down Down looks especially shouty here (though probably less shouty than a yellow Down Down Harveys). The all-caps decor (including the BACON one which is a bit odd, I'd expect that at The Bacon People, Piggly Wiggly) and all-caps aisle markers are basically the anti-Safeway Lifestyle which exudes California cool and calmness! I'm not sure what Down Down exudes, Australian bogan vibes? Maybe that explains the expanded booze section!
The Winn-Dixiesons dollar store department reminds me a bit of the Krogertsons dollar store departments at some Houston Grocery Palace stores! Ok, those were more enclosed than these since they used the old Albertsons Garden Centers, but I suppose it is the same overall idea Kroger tried.
This has been an exciting couple of weeks for Texas Albertsons fans! Tom Thumb is celebrating their 75th anniversary and they rolled out a special logo for the anniversary featuring Tom Thumb's pre-Randall's logo. It was surprising to see that. Even bigger news is that the Irving, TX Albertsons in the old Minyard/Fiesta Mart finally opened after a nearly year-long construction process in an existing building. This is the first Albertsons grand opening in Texas in a long, long time! It looks like Albertsons put a good effort into this store by giving it Heritage decor and real floors. It has a Starbucks as well which is impressive for a store that is subsidized by the Irving government: https://goo.gl/maps/V3vzP4dkejdepG1c9
Here is a video from the grand opening: https://archive.org/details/coitx-Albertsons_Opens_New_Store_in_South_Irving
One neat thing which is visible in the video is that Albertsons strung blue tinsel type stuff around the parking lot lamp posts for the grand opening. Back in the day, way back, supermarkets often had tinsel like that in the parking lot, but it is a rare thing these days. In some ways, this Albertsons is a modern store with retro sensibilities and so I think the tinsel fits in great with that!
Also, my local Randall's, in a 50 year old ex-Handy Andy, is in the middle of a remodel and it is really exciting! The Colorful Lifestyle v2 decor has already gone up and now they've stripped the floor in preparation for new fake wood vinyl floors. It is exciting times for Albertsons fans in Texas all the way around as you can tell!
A Ford Pinto greatly describes Albertsons: rear ended (by stronger competitors) and it caught fire (closed up shop) which could have been avoided with a little better engineering (management).
DeleteI couldn't decide on which name I liked better myself, but like you said, I decided to go with the precedent. I don't know which sounds more srange though - 'The Albertsons People' or 'It's Your Beef People!'
DeleteIt's crazy that Winn-Dixie poured more money into one of these 1970's Albertsons buildings than Publix ever has, but unlike Publix, Winn-Dixie probably feels these buildings as a longer-term investment than something they can demolish when they get tired of it. I would have loved to see what this store looked like when if first opened before all the modifications were made, as seeing a Winn-Dixie with an Albertsons layout would probably throw me off more than seeing a Food Pavilion shoved into one of these. Those were some good photos the Sing Oil Blogger found, as that was my first glimpse at seeing what a true Food Pavilion looked like (as I'd never been in one of those style stores with the original decor, let alone when they were run with all the deluxe features!) This isn't the first recently remodeled store that lost a chunk of its produce department for a new liquor store either - that front right corner is WD's go-to for adding a liquor store, and Winn-Dixie always puts produce in that spot. Even with the reduction, I think grocery stores make more money selling fermented grapes than they do the regular kind...
The old Acme Style blog used to call these short-lived grocery stores "crash and burn" stores, so that makes for a perfect metaphor between this store and a Ford Pinto!
I'm not crazy about the Down Down decor either. It looks cheap, and most Down Down remodel were pretty stingy when it came to doing other updates around the store (like replacing the floors or buying new coolers). The Winn Win remodels have been much more thorough in that respect, and although that decor isn't much more elaborate than Down Down, I like it better because it does add a little more color variety and some 3D texturing. The original Down Down prototype in Jacksonville was actually really nice, although most of the later remodels were a huge downgrade. The 'BACON' sign was a trademark of Down Down, so maybe the people down down under who created this decor really like bacon?!
Winn-Dixie's dollar sections have seemed to catch on, as they've been around since Down Down debuted in 2016 and stores are still getting them, which is better than Kroger's Dollar Garden Centers. Winn-Dixie's dollar sections vary widely in size, ranging from half of a grocery aisle to a full-blown mini department with ~4 half-length aisles, all depending on how big the store is.
It's nice to see Tom Thumb doing something to mark the company's 75th anniversary! Winn-Dixie turns 100 in 2025, so I'm curious to see what they do to mark that occasion.
The new Irving Albertsons is a really nice looking store! It's nice to see a new Texas Albertsons opening after so long, as I always thought Albertsons did well around Dallas (unless something changed these last few years). The conversion turned out really nice, as the store looks brand new inside! I also like the Heritage decor as well, as it still uses a lot of color and it's much more exciting than one of these trendier grayscale designs. Installing real floors was a good choice too, as who knows what the concrete would have looked like in that really old building. The store is a very tasteful combination of classic and modern supermarket design, and I approve!
Wow, a Winn-Dixiesons seems about as rare as a Pub-Lion which is interesting considering how both inverses are fairly common!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all of the links! I have to ask if the timing of my Food Pavilion posts had any influence on your decision to cover this store now; regardless, that seemed to work out pretty well. Like Anonymous in Houston, I can also appreciate this store much more after all of my research for #535 in Pensacola.
I have to say that Winn-Dixie's produce department must have been "tempted by the fruit of another," more potent form! It's always interesting when I come across one of the stores Winn-Dixie has recently added a liquor store to (Chiefland immediately comes to mind) as it seems like produce departments typically don't suffer much when they are condensed. I'm also very curious to see what happened to the décor in the produce department since either outcome is unique. I took a look at the 2022 street view of the front of the store and I can tell that the back wall kept Down Down, but it almost looks like I see a tan Winn-Win sign hanging on the new liquor store wall. I also came across this odd picture of a lady checking out her dog . . .
Down Down may be a better look than a dated rose and teal Marketplace, but I think we can all agree that the package leaves much to be desired (especially the earlier version like this store received). That being said, it doesn't look as bad as it could since the walls aren't yellow and this store received a nice new floor during its post-bankruptcy remodel.
I'd also like to note that the Americus Harveys put bread in the same location, which I thought was odd at the time. The Transformational stores do share some similarities with their older counterparts!
"cheesy jokes are best saved for the dairy department" – I don't even know what to say!
You're welcome! The timing of your Food Pavilion post and this one is completely coincidental - I wasn't in a mood to write about another Publixsons and this seemed like a fitting reprieve!
DeleteWD's preferred spot for adding new liquor stores is in the front right corner of the building, where just about every WD has its produce department. WD's produce departments are typically quite large (with a lot of filler space between the checklanes and produce where things have been removed over the years), so shifting everything closer to the check lanes typically doesn't effect much. Because this was a Food Pavilion shoved into an old Albertsons, the produce department was a little bit smaller than normal, but the produce selection still felt perfectly adequate while I was here. Since the liquor store is brand new I figured that would have all Winn Win inside, but I'd love to know how the produce department decor was patched up.
Down Down didn't look bad in this store - I just find these cheaper versions to be quite plain looking (especially compared to the Baymeadows WD, where the full version debuted). Thankfully most of the Down Down remodels were of Post-Bankruptcy stores, which were more updated than other locations in terms of flooring and fixtures, but some other remodels from that era were obviously cheap. I'm glad most of the really old stores held off remodels until the Winn Win era though, as those have been much more thorough in cleaning up those really old stores that needed a lot more attention than the ones that received remodels in the 2000's.
Nice coverage of this very red Winn-Dix-sons! The high drop ceiling and track lighting were really the only "Albertsons feelings" this store had on the inside when i visited it in 2017.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how much traffic some Winn-Dixie stores can pull in. The Winn Dixie on 441 and State 326 in Ocala always looks busy when I pass there, much busier than the Harvey's a mile or so to the south.
For whatever reason, Albertsons ans Pasco Countians just didn't mix. It's like Albertsons' failed run in Alabsma from 1977-1985. I also would've been very excited to have seen this store in April 1992. You may have seen a mix of 70's Stripes and Marketplace...that would've been weird!
Thanks! Winn-Dixie put a fair amount of work into this building to wipe away most of the Albertsons feel, but it was nice to see that some parts of the store still felt a bit original. You got to see this store before the Down Down remodel, although not much about this place changed after that besides the new red walls and the addition of the liquor store.
DeleteThis store is in a really good location, so I don't know how Albertsons bombed so hard here (and in Pasco County in general). Winn-Dixie had a decent crowd during my visit, and this is with another Winn-Dixie only a mile or two up the road in the old Sweetbay as well! I guess Pasco County has always been a good market for Winn-Dixie, as they have quite a few stores in the area (with the Sweetbay deal boosting their presence even more). Maybe back in the 1980's, Winn-Dixie was powerful enough to push Albertsons out of the area too.
I can only imagine what this store must have looked like back in April 1991!
*April 1991
ReplyDeleteWe live right down the road from a Winn-Dixie and I've been in there twice in 10 years. I just don't like the layout, the stores look and feel dated, and importantly, the necessity of a "loyalty card" to get any decent price on an item. Bi-Lo in S.Carolina is the same, and little surprise they're both part of SE Grocers.
ReplyDeleteContrast that with an "Ingles Market", which also has a loyalty card but their stores are fresh, inviting, and have some great local products so when we go up to Georgia I always stop in there for our provisions.
Many stores are reducing their perishables (produce) to trim costs. Produce will eventually go the way of the bakery and meat depts where the only product displayed will be case-ready packaging. (like mushrooms). Instead of selling 1 onion, there will only be packages of 3-5 which offloads the risk of spoilage to the consumer, not the retailer. Already seeing this in practice with tomatoes, potatoes and leaf vegetables such as broccoli and spinach. Give it another 5-10 years, and once the first company does it fully, they'll all follow. There's simply no margin in selling a single leek or squash and the consumers who are used to all those choices are dying every day. It's just the way it is...
Another trend I expect to see in the next decade is a massive consolidation of SKUs. Instead of 10 different variants of pancake mix, there will be a couple. This is also underway right now and the acceleration of home delivery services will only push it faster, as the customer in the store picks the brand they know because of the box (i.e.Hungry Jack), online they look at the product contents more (100% natural) as they never see the packaging until it's in their pantry. Save-A-Lot and Aldis' has already proved this model works, the large retailers are still in the game of selling shelf space to the highest bidder as long as these conglomerates exist, and margin compression due to inflation will force a brand culling.
As the home-delivery model refines itself and continues its growth you'll see store Sqft sizes inch down. Large stores from the 80s/90s are no longer cost effective to heat, cool, or staff for the customer counts. The original argument against home delivery of goods was that customers need to "touch, feel, pick" their produce and products. Well that's been proven as hogwash now. The stores have already reduced staffing to retain margins, (see self-checkout), also good luck finding a stock clerk in any major grocery store. These reductions in foot traffic are noticed by customers seeing an empty store, which causes them to wonder why no one else shops here, they go somewhere busier, store loses business cuts employees......it's a race to the bottom with these large stores. Compare that with a 30,000 SqFt Walmart market that's so packed it's a little challenging to get carts around sometimes. Stores that seem busy attract other shoppers, and it's a positive feedback loop, not a negative one.
I believe these retailers have already amortized their large suburban buildings and are running them until the physical costs outweigh their smaller replacement costs. Wouldn't shock me one bit, if taking this W-D store as an example, instead of replacing the roof in 10 years, the building is just torn down and the lot repurposed with a smaller, stand alone W-D and some outparcel businesses that drive traffic (Outback, arby's, etc).
I've heard a lot about Ingles Market but I've never been to one of their stores. From what I've seen online their stores do look very nice, even some of the older locations. It always seems like the grocery chains that have remained privately-owned by the original families are much nicer and better run than some of the corporate conglomerate chains, and Ingles seems to be following that trend.
DeleteI know Winn-Dixie's latest remodels have been big on condolidating SKUs. When the stores remodel many get low-rise shelves, which helps reduce SKUs without it being too noticible to shoppers at first. Walmart and Target though seem to be more keen on pulling back on perishable offerings at the moment, and I've heard and seen examples where those two will remove entire deli and bakery departments, and I know Target in particular has been shifting to more case-ready produce too. I know Target isn't as big in grocery as Walmart and even other regional competitors, so I can see why they would want to move to a lot of these strategies you mention to keep their perishable costs down on the grocery side.
While others like Kroger, Wegmans, and HEB have really been pushing big 90,000 sqft.+ stores, Publix and Winn-Dixie never jumped onto that bandwagon, and I don't think either has ever opened a store larger than 61,000 square feet on their own. Winn-Dixie's newest stores are around 42,000 square feet and Publix's stores are around 49,000 sqft. on average, which seems pretty small compared to what others are building elsewhere in the country. It will be interesting to see how grocery stores evolve over the next decade, as grocery shopping is certainly chainging. Personally, I still like to go to the supermarket and pick out my own items, but I know others like the convenience of home delivery. Publix and Winn-Dixie both have experimented with small-size (30,000 sqft. and less) stores recently. I've been to these smaller stores from both chains, and they are both perfectly adequate, and rarely do I do into one and wish I went to a larger store because it didn't have what I was looking for.
I agree with you that it's refreshing to see one of the very few Winn-Dixiesons out there in lieu of another ol' Publixsons! I also like how you mention Winn-Dixie was content to make major changes to this store's existing footprint, whereas Publix just brings out the dynamite (great gif, haha!)
ReplyDeleteIt's neat to see a liquor store coming back to the same space as Albertsons once had it, even if it does mean this store will only sell vegetables and no longer any fruit, lol. Seeing the old architecture on that side of the store is a nice complement, too. Oh, and tons of great puns in this post -- including one from Winn-Dixie themselves! You didn't tell me you got a job working for them as a pun writer, AFB!
I wish Winn-Dixie was able to acquire more than 3 former Albertsons stores, but the timing of Albertsons' biggest closure waves didn't really coordinate well with Winn-Dixie's peaks either. If only Safeway could have held out two more years in Florida, maybe we would have seen SEG buy those three stores before Publix could have, as I would have much rather seen that happen (and it would have increased our Winn-Dixiesons count too!)
DeleteWell, even without the fruit, at least you'll still be able to buy grapes here - just a slightly more fermented variety! :) Sadly, I learned it's quite difficult to get a job in the pun writer's department at Ollie's, so I had to take the available position at Winn-Dixie instead!