Grand Union #756 / Kash n' Karry #211 (Pre-Delhaize) / Kash n' Karry #1708 (Delhaize) / Sweetbay Supermarket #1708 / Winn-Dixie #2404 / Future Aldi #2404
5805 Manatee Avenue West, Bradenton, FL - Palma Sola Square
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| Today's post is a presentation of Manatee County retail |
After a little dose of Albertsons, let's return to more of the big news to sweep the Floridian grocery scene in 2024: the Winn-Dixie to Aldi conversions. Having spent the last post looking at one of the former Albertsons stores in Bradenton, it only makes sense to take the short drive down the road to visit the town's "chosen" Winn-Dixie store (not like this selection should be considered an honor of any kind). The Bradenton Winn-Dixie that was selected for conversion to an Aldi wasn't just any plain old 1990's Winn-Dixie Marketplace either - this store has quite the storied past, having seen a number of brands operate out of this building since it was first constructed in the late 1970's. To this day, this building retains a rare prototype that was supposed to shape the future of one of those past chains too, but ended up being a short-lived design due to a major sellout of the brand (where have we heard that story before?). Quite a bit to talk about, so let's start at the very beginning, which takes us back to 1977:
On January 25, 1977, the original supermarket anchor to Palma Sola Square - Grand Union - opened for business. The second Grand Union in Bradenton (following the opening of the city's first Grand Union on 14th Street West in 1975) was dubbed the "supermarket with more", as it offered "a complete bakery, wine shop, old world deli, meat and produce departments, including a garden shop plus a complete home and health shop." Outside of the lack of a full-service pharmacy counter, Grand Union was very much trying to follow the big trend in the 1970's of having a "one-stop" grocery store with a full suite of service departments and a little extra general merchandise thrown in too. From reading the ad, the "garden shop" mentioned wasn't so much a true garden shop like Albertsons tried to run at some stores in Texas and the Southwest in the early 2000's, but instead a slightly enlarged floral department with some live plants thrown in.
The article above continues the explanation of the new store's features, as well as its "one-stop" shopping design. Store manager Edward Southall explained this store as "more of a family center than a supermarket. We are aiming to be a one-stop store where shoppers can take care of almost all their needs - food, drugs, household goods, health and beauty aids." With Skaggs-Albertsons arriving in Bradenton two years prior, the chain's revolutionary "food and drug superstore" concept seemed to be keeping the Floridian competition on edge, with Grand Union, as well as Publix and A&P, creating their own versions of a one-stop shopping superstore to combat the threat from Skaggs-Albertsons.
However, while Grand Union was touting all of these robust department selections, one-stop shopping, meats, an in-house bakery, and products like "magazines and paperback books, woolen goods, photo supplies, smoking accessories, and toys", this new Grand Union was only 28,000 square feet - half the size of a Skaggs-Albertsons and most of the competition's attempts at a one-stop shopping destination. Grand Union was packing a lot into a tiny space, although the grand opening ads and the article make this store seem like it was double the size. The article above features a few interior photos of the new Grand Union store, including a look at the much-praised in-store bakery department, but not much else as far as detail about the store's interior layout or design though.
By the early 1980's, Grand Union had begun its grand national decline, with noticeable troubles beginning to appear in Grand Union's outer markets like Texas and Florida. As a last-ditch effort to prop up some of the Florida stores, Grand Union chose the Sarasota-Bradenton market to debut the company's new "food markets" feature, which included the addition of new service departments such as "The Taste Place" (a selection of imported and gourmet foods), "The Wine Corner", and "The Cook's Harvest" (a bulk foods department), in addition to expansions of existing service meat, deli, and bakery departments. The "food markets" put a large emphasis on service departments, which Grand Union was using to differentiate themselves from the competition (in an era where most supermarkets had limited or bare-bones service departments). However, while these service features sounded nice, it just wasn't enough, as by December 1983...
…Grand Union announced that it would be closing its remaining 43 stores in Florida. While many of those 43 stores closed outright, 9 of those were purchased by Kash n' Karry, including this particular store on Manatee Avenue West in Bradenton. Kash n' Karry's purchase of those 9 stores followed the chain's purchase of 6 other Grand Union stores in late 1983 in Pasco and Pinellas Counties, bolstering Kash n' Karry's presence in their greater Tampa Bay homeland.
The Manatee Avenue West Grand Union closed in January 1984, with the new Kash n' Karry opening roughly a month later on February 5, 1984 following a light remodel. According to an executive from Kash n' Karry in relation to the conversions, he stated that "the changeover from Grand Union to Kash n' Karry will not affect the selection shoppers find on the shelves. The cheese shop, bakery, and deli will remain at the Manatee Avenue store".
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| 23 cents a pound for "tasty" bananas at Kash n' Karry in 1984, in case anyone is keeping track |
Besides a likely decor swap that took place in the month-long changeover, Kash n' Karry ran this store mostly as-is from the Grand Union days, although heavily touting themselves as the "lowest priced guy in town". While under the ownership of Lucky Stores of California (as can be seen under Kash n' Karry's logo in the ad above), Kash n' Karry was heavily promoted as a discount brand, much like its parent store Lucky (as "Lucky means low prices") and its sibling brand Eagle Food Centers (which operated in the upper Midwest, alongside a small presence around Houston)
In 1988, Lucky Stores was sold to the American Stores company, who immediately sold off Kash n' Karry via a leveraged buyout after completing the sale. Debt-ridden by the leveraged buyout, Kash n' Karry began to reinvent itself in the 1990's with nicer, showier stores, much like this one. While Kash n' Karry did a good job of modernizing its stores in the early 1990's, the company's debt problems continued to plague any additional progress at modernization as the sales volume created by the new stores wasn't enough to keep those programs afloat, especially as the growth of Walmart and Publix continued to eat away at Kash n' Karry's sales going into the late 1990's. As such, Kash n' Karry was sold to Food Lion (and in turn Delhaize America) in December 1996. Even with sales declining and a sale in the works, Kash n' Karry had been preparing a new flagship store design to close out the 1990's with, an even showier design compared to what the company had been using in the earlier part of the decade to invigorate sales. Making its debut on January 28, 1997 right here on Manatee Avenue West in Bradenton, Kash n' Karry's new store prototype was designed to make a grand impression:
""Over $3 million was spent during the 6 month long renovation of this project," explained [Ron] Dennis [president of Kash n' Karry]. "This store has an expanded produce department that includes over 400 items and we have implemented a brand new contemporary decor package. The store also features a sushi bar and our new Kash n' Karry Food Court." The food court wasn't just your typical supermarket fare like sub sandwiches and fried chicken either - Kash n' Karry was promoting food court items such as "raspberry salmon, chicken cordon bleu, and spinach quiche". In addition to all that fancy food, the remodeled store would also include Joffery's Bean Coffee Shop and an attached liquor store. To fit all of that stuff into this old Grand Union building, Kash n' Karry built a large addition to the right side of the store, the addition including the entirety of the "grand aisle", with the original Grand Union building becoming home to the grocery aisles and the pharmacy counter.
Like we've seen a number of times in the past, while Kash n' Karry had grand plans for this new flagship store design, due to the sale to Food Lion, only 3 stores of this design were ever opened. Those 3 stores included two expansions of existing Kash n' Karrys into this design (Bradenton and Gunn Highway in Tampa), along with a lone newbuild in Valrico. That was all Kash n' Karry was able to push through into the construction phase by the time Food Lion came along, with both expansions and the lone new store opening at various points in 1997. Delhaize truncated the previous ownership's new flagship design to those measly few, opting for a go-forward design of their own for Kash n' Karry, which complemented some of Delhaize's own creative takes on what the Kash n' Karry of the future should look like.
From January 1997 until early 2006, this store sported its rare prototype design until ultimately converting into a Sweetbay Supermarket as part of Delahize's phase-out and reimagining of the Kash n' Karry brand (you can see this store as a Sweetbay here). While the layout of the prototype design remained, the original decor was stripped out and the fancy features like the food court were trimmed back to feature Sweetbay's fairly typical selection of rotisserie chicken and sandwiches. With Sweetbay failing to win over Floridian shoppers (much like many of its predecessor's prototypes), this store was one of the 72 remaining Sweetbay locations sold to BI-LO Holdings (predecessor to Southeastern Grocers, parent company of Winn-Dixie) in 2013. In 2014 this store officially took on the Winn-Dixie name, while still keeping many of its Sweetbay characteristics (and decor). That's the state we'll be seeing this store in as we take our tour.
Winn-Dixie would eventually remodel this store to a decor of their own in early 2023, when it took on the current Winn Win deesign. While the results of the remodel in the grand aisle were interesting (as you can see in that linked video clip), the refresh still looked pretty good, although it was mostly for nothing in the end (like a good chunk of Winn-Dixie's recent remodels have since amounted to). In July 2024, following the sale of Southeastern Grocers to Aldi, it was discovered that Aldi had pulled a permit to convert this store into yet another location for the German discount brand. That event is what brings us to tour this store today, as it is one of the approximately 65 known Winn-Dixie and Harvey's locations that will become an Aldi by 2025. We've lost a number of unique or significant Winn-Dixies as part of this conversion process, and this was certainly one of them, even though most of what made this building special was Kash n' Karry's doing and not Winn-Dixie's!
Before we head inside, let's take a quick look to the right of the grand entryway toward the attached liquor store. Interestingly enough, it's been reported that following the conversion of some of these Winn-Dixies with attached liquor stores, Aldi will let the liquor stores remain open as stand-alone Winn-Dixie Liquor locations. I don't know if this particular location will be one of the ones to keep the liquor store going following the conversion, but a number of the other converting Sweet-Dixie stores with attached liquor stores are keeping theirs following the conversion (which will be strange to see).
While we could spend more time drinking away our sorrows over all the Winn-Dixies we're losing to Aldi conversions, let's head inside and see what makes this store interesting. The main entrance under the curved facade takes us into the store's "grand aisle", with the photo above looking from the cart return toward the grand aisle entryway. As we turn our attention to the other direction, things get much more grand than this:
Now that's what I call a grand aisle! A grand aisle tacked onto the side of an old Grand Union too - you can't get much more grand than that! Every service department except for the pharmacy was moved into this addition following the store's 1997 expansion, with the central produce department acting as the centerpiece to the service departments surrounding it.
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| Bananas have gone up to 69 cents a pound these days |
While it looks like it was designed to house a skylight, the peaked ceiling over produce was always just that - a peaked ceiling created to make this area seem larger and more open. The design of Kash n' Karry's store seems pretty reminiscent to what a late 1990's A&P would have looked like, especially with the peaked ceiling over the similarly designed grand aisle. As we continue our tour, this store begins to feel very similar to that linked former A&P in a lot of ways, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was supposed to be a ripoff of A&P's design, as supermarkets are no strangers to copying someone else's store design!
Stepping inside, you are greeted by the produce department, which occupies the front part of the grand aisle near the entrance.
Upon my visit in 2021, this store was still sporting its Sweetbay decor. While I have no qualms over Sweetbay's decor in terms of design (as it was quite nice), by the early 2020's, I was seeing a lot of examples of this decor looking a bit rough in places. This store was still one of the better examples of this decor, however, that 'd' in "Produce Market" was barely hanging in there! As this decor began to approach 15 or more years old, a lot of the letters have become prone to falling off, with those missing parts detracting from the overall design of this decor.
On the opposite side of the grand aisle is a wall that separates the 1997 addition from the rest of the grocery aisles, behind which is the produce stockroom. To provide access to the rest of the store, small cut-throughs to the grocery aisles were located next to the entrance and all the way in the back by the meat counter. With all the extra wall space over here, Sweetbay managed to squeeze in a second "Produce Market" sign, this one in much better shape than the one across from it!
While all the wall decor we're seeing today is Sweetbay's, there is still one remnant from Kash n' Karry present throughout the building: the floor tiles. The light orange tiles with the diamond pattern ran throughout the store, and remain one of the last clues we have to what the prototype Kash n' Karry decor looked like. As we saw in the grand reopening advertisement for this store from 1997, Kash n' Karry's president mentioned this store debuted "a brand new contemporary decor package". Having been designed prior to the Delhaize buyout, and due to all the orange I see, I'd have to imagine the new decor was somehow based off of Kash n' Karry's early 1990's orange decor, maybe a more modern twist to that? After the opening of these 3 prototypes, Delhaize began using their new purple and teal decor for all new stores, leaving these 3 stores as an anomaly of what could have been had Kash n' Karry not been sold.
Turning our attention to the right wall, we find the "Neighborhood Deli", complete with a ghosted version of Sweetbay's logo behind the department name. I'm actually surprised Delhaize wasn't harder on Winn-Dixie for removing all instances of Sweetbay's logo, as that logo is still used by Sweetbay's sister store Hannaford. While the deli received some minor modifications during the Sweetbay remodel outside of the decor (like the addition of the brown vent, home to Sweetbay's "Fire Works Roastery" - a more common sight in Sweetbay's newbuild stores), another Kash n' Karry remnant remained behind the counter too - the orange and white wall tiles.
Continuing toward the back of the grand aisle, next to the deli is the "Bake Shop". It's a nicely presented bakery too - all the fixtures are from Sweetbay, and Winn-Dixie did a good job of repurposing them for their own use. The pendant lights over the bakery counter are a nice touch too.
The Seafood Market is located in the back right corner of the grand aisle, and consists of a row of freezer doors. I think Sweetbay toned down the Seafood department in this store from what Kash n' Karry originally described in 1997 as "an expansive Seafood Department now called Pelican Coast, which features a wide selection of seafood". I wouldn't be surprised if there was full-service counter here pre-Sweetbay, or at least in the years following the expansion.
The meat service counter is located next to the seafood corner, complete with Winn-Dixie's replica Sweetbay decor "The Beef People" sign.
Here's a nice overview of the grand aisle from in front of the meat counter, looking back toward the entrance. Toward the back of the grand aisle, following produce, the center sales floor switches to a cooler of pre-packaged deli meats.
From the meat counter, we'll turn 90 degrees to the right from that last vantage point for a look toward the grocery aisles in the original Grand Union structure.
In the transition area between meats and the grocery aisles, we find the wine department. Since most Sweetbay stores usually kept wine in a center store grocery aisle, it wasn't common to see Wine get a wall sign like we see here. The Wine sign is mounted to the island which contains the produce stockroom, and also serves as the transition between the original Grand Union building and Kash n' Karry's grand aisle addition.
From Wine, here's a look back into the addition, where we see the bakery looking back at us.
I guess there's no use wine-ing anymore about all the Winn-Dixies that are to become Aldis, as the damage has already been done.
Following the meat coolers on the back wall of the transition area, the back wall changes into dairy coolers as we enter the original supermarket space.
Aisle 1 runs along the back of the produce stockroom, with some stock photo collages on the wall from Sweetbay to break up all the blank space.
Moving along to aisle 3, we find more of Winn-Dixie's famous stocking of excess cases of water on the floor in front of the shelves.
Even with the large addition in 1997, the original supermarket space wasn't modified all too much from its original feel. All of Grand Union's windows across the front of the store were preserved, and I believe the varying ceiling heights were also a Grand Union remnant, as ceilings like that were a common aspect of 1970's and 1980's supermarket design. Off in the distance is the pharmacy, a space most likely home to a different service department like the deli or bakery prior to the addition (I don't think this store featured a pharmacy until the expansion happened). The remaining original service departments were most likely along the right side wall that was ripped out for the 1997 addition.
Aisle 4 is the breakfast aisle, and that stockroom door in the distance serves as the transition between the meat and dairy departments.
Returning to the back wall, here's a look across the back of the original Grand Union space. The lower ceiling across the back is another likely Grand Union remnant, with the original meat coolers (and possibly dairy coolers as well) in this part of the store under the lower ceiling. With meat moving into the addition, the back was was now entirely home to dairy.
While Aldi is baking up a plan for converting this store, for now, here in aisle 5 you can find everything you need to bake a cake.
Diapers and saltine crackers in aisle 7 - another combination to add to the list of strange supermarket aisle pairings!
Moving further toward the left side of the store, here's another look toward the pharmacy before we dip back into the grocery aisles:
Pairing seasonal merchandise and greeting cards makes a lot of sense for one stop holiday shopping here in aisle 8, where you can get your chocolate bunny and Easter card all in the same aisle!
At the back wall once again, we can see both dairy signs from this vantage point (although not at the best angles for either).
When I visited this store in 2021, the empty paper plate shelf to the right was just a fluke. These days, sights like that are usually a much more grim sign of an impending Aldi conversion, especially if there are a lot of empty patches like that throughout the store.
Pet supplies and air filters found their homes in aisle 11...
…while next door in America's favorite grocery aisle, we're back to (human) food products, with chips and soda found here.
The last two aisles, numbers 13 and 14, are home to frozen foods (although half of aisle 13 is dedicated to beer). Sweetbay's frozen food banners mark the transition between the grocery aisles and the coolers, running down the center of aisles 12 and 13 (although considering the banners aren't beer related, it probably would have made more sense to place those between aisles 13 and 14 instead).
Here's a final look across the back of the store, as seen from frozen foods.
While dairy ends in the corner at the stockroom doors, Sweetbay still managed to install a giant "Fresh Dairy" sign on a trellis in the corner.
The style of dairy sign we see here was another one typically reserved for the new-build Sweetbay stores, and comes across as quite large in this store with its low drop ceiling. "I" spy another letter that wants to fall off from that sign too.
Frozen foods finds its wall sign along the left wall above the freezers. While the wall sign is from Sweetbay, the category markers above the coolers are Winn-Dixie's, and are the style that Winn-Dixie has been using since the Down Down decor era.
In the front left corner of the store was the pharmacy, tucked back into a little alcove that was most likely home to a different service department during the Grand Union and early Kash n' Karry days. The pharmacy at this store remained open until late 2023, when it closed with all of the remaining Winn-Dixie pharmacies as part of the finalization of the sale to Aldi.
Health and beauty products were also housed in this alcove in front of the pharmacy counter, with the photo above showcasing the (slightly washed out by the bright lighting) signage for this department.
The health and beauty sign was mounted to the front wall, after which the wall transitions back to its original wall of windows from Grand Union as we return to the front end:
I'm not really sure what I was going for with this particular photo, but it does give us a nice close-up of the windows and all the light those bring into the front of the store.
As we return to the front end, I managed to capture a glimpse at one of the health and beauty category markers to my right, which are of the original Sweetbay style.
Thank you for shopping your neighborhood Grand Kash n' Sweet-Dixie, which will sadly be no more in mere months as Aldi prepares to rip this building apart and strip it of everything that made it unique.
Back outside on the front walkway, here's a look across Grand Union's original facade, including the window wall, some painted-over brickwork, and some fluorescent lights above that look old (even if they aren't from the Grand Union days). I also wouldn't be surprised if the exit doors on this part of the store are original too, as those also looked really old!
Kash n' Karry dressed up the facade of the original supermarket building during their 1997 remodel, but minus some of that decorative stucco from the 1990's, the original Grand Union probably didn't look too different from what we see here, with the original facade likely resembling this.
A few days before this post was published, job postings for the Aldi that will be replacing this Winn-Dixie went live, meaning this store has roughly 60 days left in it as a Winn-Dixie if the pattern holds. That being said, the closure should happen sometime in mid-late December 2024, with Aldi opening sometime in mid-2025. While the clock is now ticking on the West Manatee Winn-Dixie, if you happen to be keeping tabs on any of your local Winn-Dixie stores, I do know that if you notice your local store filling up bins and carts with non-food and drug items (like toys, kitchen gadgets, etc.) and marking them 50% off, and notice greeting cards move to a 25% off sale, you've just found the first signs of the conversion process beginning (which usually begin about 60 days out from closure, so all of that should now be happening here at West Manatee). Even though we've well exceeded the 50 stores Aldi claimed would be announced for conversions by the end of 2024, more still seem to be trickling out, so we'll keep you informed of any additional conversions that come up over on the MFR page. It's certainly a shame to see Winn-Dixie gutted like this, especially after the turnaround they seemed to be having the last few years. If this was going to be Winn-Dixie's fate, what was even the point of all these recent remodels, new stores, and the false hope of a bright future ahead? Might as well have just sold the company to Aldi in 2018 following the last bankruptcy and called it done then, and saved a bunch of money in the process. I wish I had answers, but corporate greed is quite the beast, isn't it?
Anyway, while I wish I could be a little more cheerful about Winn-Dixie's future, it seems like the sale to Aldi was nothing more than a bizarre corporate cash-out to line the pockets of a few at the top at the expense of the company's many frontline employees, who will soon be out of a job as these stores close. Not to end this post on such a sour note, but it's just a shame to see this is what Winn-Dixie has now come to, especially when not too long ago it seemed like Winn-Dixie was going to enter 2025, it's centennial year, on such a high. Have I ever mentioned before that the Floridian grocery scene has never made much sense?!
Next time, for something a little brighter (not that touring former supermarkets reeks of optimism!), we'll go back to the trials and tribulation of a supermarket chain already long gone from Florida - Albertsons - and hear yet another convoluted tale from that chain's past in the Sunshine State. Be sure to come back in two weeks for that!
So until the next post,
The Albertsons Florida Blogger
It is quite odd to hear Grand Union marketing itself as a one-stop shopping destination in Florida because in Texas, Weingarten practically promoted themselves as being the opposite of one-stop shopping! Weingarten was very much a holdout on the superstore/combination store concept. We can only assume why, but my guess is that by the 1970s, Weingarten was so much involved in the shopping center development side of things that keeping their supermarkets focused on just groceries helped increase the rent they could get from drug stores and other shopping center tenants. Maybe not since a lot of super stores also had drug stores. Anyway, when Grand Union took over Weingarten's supermarkets, they pretty much didn't have a choice but to continue marketing the stores the same way Weingarten did before. Although Grand Union did build some Weingarten stores themselves (mostly, if not completely, in Weingarten-owned shopping centers), they also had some tiny and old Weingarten locations which pretty much defined what Grand Union was able to do here.
ReplyDeleteLucky actually had a pretty big presence in Houston. Eagle was a pretty big deal here and their expansion through Houston was not too dissimilar from Safeway's during the same time or Albertsons a number of years later. Lucky also had GEMCO stores here and Magnamart stores elsewhere in Texas. Lucky's presence here came crashing down as the local economy soured in the 1980s, which is funny because Lucky specialized in budget-tier supermarkets here, and they did retreat. Oh well, at least they lasted a lot longer than another similar type of supermarket chain did here, Food Lion! Their presence was more Albertsons-like here, though I feel that's probably a bit insulting to Albertsons as Albertsons' stores were never as dead as Food Lion's!
After visiting The Lobster People in Vermont this summer, it is interesting to compare how The Beef People looks as compared to The Lobster People. While I do see some similarities, I will say the two stores look more different than they look the same. Of course, given this store's bizarre history, which is only going to get more bizarre as Die Rindfleischvolk takes over, maybe it isn't too surprising that this store doesn't exactly remind me a whole lot of The Lobster People.
Backing up to my visit to the Hannaford in Williston, VT, I feel like I need to apologize to Albertsons fans for that! The main reason for that visit was to buy some Ben & Jerry's ice cream near their factory. We did go to the factory, but the lines were so long for ice cream that we decided to take our chances on buying their ice cream at a nearby supermarket instead. There is a Shaw's practically next to the Ben & Jerry's facility in Waterbury Center, but we had already been to a Shaw's in Williston (and elsewhere in New England) and we had not been to a Hannaford yet so we went there instead. The truth of the matter is that I preferred the Williston Shaw's, but Hannaford did have a few things going for it. They had what I consider to be oversized service/fresh departments relative to the center of the store (the store was smaller than the Shaw's, about 45k vs 65k). The Hannaford seemed to be doing better business as well so it might have been cheaper. That was certainly different from anything Delhaize I remember in Houston! Aside from the front-lit sign and the vestibule design, the Hannaford didn't remind me much of our old Food Lions. FWIW, the Ben & Jerry's from Hannaford was fresher tasting than the same flavor of Ben & Jerry's from a Houston Kroger store.
Much like Weingarten's switch from the grocery business to the real estate business, it is hard to fault Aldi for trying to kash in and karry out a plan to monetize their real estate while also expanding their bespoke grocery operation even if it is a shame for the employees and people who like the store as it is.
Even what Grand Union was promoting in Florida seemed to be a bit of a stretch when it came to their definition of "one-stop shopping", considering how small this store was compared to the other "one-stop" concept stores their competitors were building. I know Grand Union had some managerial problems in the late 1970's and early 1980's, but I've always gotten the impression that Grand Union, like A&P, was mostly behind on the times and didn't react fast enough in designing larger, more modern supermarkets, which also aided to the company's decline. The tiny old Weingarten stores you describe sound like Grand Union's typical style, so it's no surprise they bought those stores when the Weingarten family wanted to get out of the grocery business and focus on the real estate. Between the old stores and Texas being a being of an isolated outpost for the company, it's not surprise Grand Union met a similar fate in Texas as they did in Florida.
DeleteI forgot about how Lucky also had those discount store concepts too! From what I understand, a 1980's shopping trip at Kash n' Karry would have felt pretty similar to a trip to a Houston Eagle store during that time, as they were run under the same concept.
I've yet to post any photos of Delhaize's newbuild Sweetbay stores from the late 2000's, but it you were to compare a newbuild Hannaford to a newbuild Sweetbay from that same era, the building layouts are almost identical (although the decor is a bit different between the two). Considering that most of Sweetbay's store fleet was a hodge-podge of old Kash n' Karry stores, it's harder to see the similarities, but if you want a better comparison, here is quick look at a late 2000's Hannaford vs. a late 2000's Sweetbay:
Hannaford - https://maps.app.goo.gl/BtNfuwPj9t4cF6gu6
Sweetbay - https://maps.app.goo.gl/tT6yYqHcC98vwjYi8
Maybe that will do a better job comparing The Lobster People to The Beef People, seeing the different versions of the decor in the similar buildings.
For the sake of wanting a little variety while on vacation, I'll give you a pass on that decision to visit a Hannaford over a Shaw's! Touring the Ben & Jerry's factory sounds like it was fun too. The Williston Hannaford is the older building design used around the time Delhaize bought Hannaford in 2000, but Hannaford always seemed to prefer those larger style stores over the last few decades. The purchases of Kash n' Karry and Hannaford seemed to mark Delhaize's move into having some stores that were a step above Food Lion, and from what I understand, Hannaford does very well for Delhaize overall. Hannaford is a much different side to Delhaize than Food Lion, that's for sure!
Seems like for some companies (Weingarten and Aldi), there's better money to be made in real estate than trying to run a viable grocery chain. Even though Grand Union failed at running Weingarten's stores long-term, at least that transition wasn't as malicious as what Aldi is doing with Winn-Dixie, and Weingarten's went out of business due to Grand Union's managerial issues rather than a total self-destruction. I'm not liking where this is going with Winn-Dixie, especially after seeing the chain make a decent turnaround for nothing.
Believe it or not, I actually saw that Hannaford that you linked to! We went to the park there by the lake in Meredith. It is a pretty neat place! There is a retro-themed Mobil station across from the lake which is really neat. The station itself isn't retro, it is just a retro theme, but it is still pretty neat! Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/q1Byc1XdG6Dqy9My9
DeleteKind of like the Mallbertsons Shaw's not far from there in Belmont, NH, I can only say that I saw it from the outside, but I guess the Google Maps photos give a pretty good idea of what The Lobster People there looks like as compared to a similar The Beef People Sweetbay.
One of the neat things I saw in Meredith is the hidden McDonald's sign! We were eating lunch at the Hart's Turkey Farm in Meredith and as we were leaving and going back to the parking lot, I saw the Golden Arches out in the middle of the trees. How bizarre I thought since the McDonald's itself (which has a much more visible, but strange looking sign itself) is on the other side of the trees over by the signal. I'm not really sure why the McDonald's sign is hidden in the middle of the woods like that, but if you go back in time on Google Maps, the sign is a bit more visible so I'm guessing there was a time when that sign wasn't hidden by the trees. You'll probably have to zoom into the trees to see the sign: https://maps.app.goo.gl/62VFoskq18TFXkqe6
That's a weird coincidence - the Meredith Hannaford was just the first Hannaford of that design I happened to find doing a quick Google search! The retro-themed Mobil in town is neat too! That reminds me of the 1940's themed Texaco built outside of Universal Studios Orlando in 1990. Sadly though, that Texaco ended up getting sold to Hess at some point and was heavily remodeled from its original look, and is today, interestingly, a Mobil: https://maps.app.goo.gl/FUDG2FFaDEFcyMCo9
DeleteHere's an article about the original retro Texaco: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1990/05/31/texaco-opens-40s-era-service-station/
The McDonald's sign in the trees is strange too. I agree, that sign was probably much more visible when McDonald's first installed it, but it seems a bit redundant since McDonald's has an actual giant sign up the road at the main entrance to the restaurant! I guess Meredith is just an interesting place for retail!
Interestingly enough, Sweetbay stores had "Harvest Market" signage in the produce department as opposed to "Produce Market." When the remaining Sweetbay stores were converted to Winn-Dixie, Winn-Dixie did have to change the "Harvest Market" signage to "Produce Market" due to Hannaford having the rights to the "Harvest Market" trademark, meaning that the "Produce Market" signage was installed in 2014 nonetheless they are showing their age in some stores. The "Harvest Market" signs are still present in Hannaford stores, which used similar, but not identical, decor packages. Some Hannafords used the same department signage font as the Winn-Dixies with the post-bankruptcy decor (Winn-Dixie actually called the post-bankruptcy decor "A Fresh Experience" - I stumbled upon a PDF of their annual report from 2008 or so and it mentioned the official name of the decor pacakge), along with Sweetbay 1.0 wall graphics and Sweetbay 2.0's food puns on the walls. Sadly all of the Sweetbay 2.0 decor Winn-Dixies have already closed or were remodeled to Winn Win (as was the case at #2545). It is truly sad to see all these numerous Winn Win decor Winn-Dixies close, not to mention some of the non-Sweetbay Winn-Dixies in Florida listed for conversion had liquor stores added in their most recent remodels, with the fate of some of these liquor stores uncertain at this time.
ReplyDeleteInteresting - I was only in a Sweetbay once while they were still in operation, so I totally forgot that the produce signage used to be different. I did manage to track down a photo of a Sweetbay with the original "Harvest Market" signage here: https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sweet-bay-supermarket-clearwater?select=JRIv7fBMxkXDUKHIUYJhJA
DeleteSince Delhaize made WD change all the produce signs, I'm surprised they let all the ghosted images of Sweetbay's logo stay on the wall too, unless those were just too difficult to remove, so Delhaize let those slide. Even though Sweetbay and Hannaford were different, you can still pull a lot of similarities between the two chains when you compared the store. I like how Delhaize let Sweetbay take on its own design and feel though to make the chain seem more "Floridian" compared to Hannaford (rather than making Sweetbay a exact clone). I also never noticed the similarities in the fonts between WD's post-Bankruptcy decor and Sweetbay's.
It's a shame this is what Winn-Dixie's fate has come to, as I can't imagine Winn-Dixie would have poured all that money into these stores with remodels and new liquor stores if they knew they were just going court a buyer whose mind was set on self-destructing the chain. It seems like Aldi is keeping a good number of the attached liquor stores running as-is, still branded as Winn-Dixie too. I don't know how long that arrangement will last, but it appears the liquor store here at #2404 will continue on following the main store's closure here in December.
Very nice looking store! From the video you linked, the Winn Win remodel turned out nicely too, but the Sweetbay décor in this post is probably a bit more elaborate (not sure which I prefer, though). It would have been cool to see the original Kash 'n Karry décor for this rare prototype as well. While the building itself kinda loses some steam after it transitions back into the original Grand Union structure, I can appreciate the attempt to break up the monotony with the trellis dairy sign -- like you said though, that looks quite large for the space!
ReplyDeleteI agree about the whole Aldi sale being a sad end (or at least, presumed end, I suppose -- who knows!) to the Winn-Dixie brand. It really seemed like WD was turning themselves around, and the original hope was that Aldi would actually try their hands at a full supermarket -- unfortunately that thought process was too good to be true. This has been discussed many times already, but I have to wonder if the original intention wasn't to court Kroger or Albertsons, only for their merger to complicate the WD situation and wind up in having to sell to Aldi, who evidently only wanted the real estate. That's a shame, as now none of the parties have won, with the Kroger-Albertsons merger looking doomed. (None of the parties except for Aldi, that is!) I'd love for the WD brand to continue and especially celebrate it's 100th anniversary next year, but maybe that celebration will be similar to what Sears did for its 125th... that is to say, nothing meaningful or prolonging the demise :(
Sadly, there are very few photos of Kash n' Karry's decor out there in general, let alone photos of a short-lived package that only made it into 4 stores. The orange floor tiles seem to suggest this was probably a more elaborate installation of Kash n' Karry's traditional orange 1990's decor, but I guess a conclusive answer will remain a mystery. With all the fanfare surrounding this new prototype, you'd think Kash n' Karry would have dressed up the original Grand Union space a bit more, right?
DeleteAfter seeing the reality of the Aldi deal transpire these last few months, it's pretty sad witnessing a chain (essentially) self-destruct itself. Selling to Aldi seems like it was no better than selling out to Eddie Lampert. The fact Winn-Dixie was turning a new leaf before all this just furthers my disgust over the situation, as even though Winn-Dixie had its share of issues, it was a completely viable chain. Now Florida loses a competitor, many employees lose their jobs, and who knows what the endgame of all this even will be. Maybe when the Kroger-Albertsons deal is over one of them will buy the scraps of WD that's left as a means to re-enter Florida in some form. I agree the Kroger-Albertsons deal could have complicated the potential buyer situation, as even if WD wasn't trying to court them specifically, two viable options for buyers were taken out of play at that critical moment management wanted out, and ended up selling to Aldi instead.
As far as I'm aware, Harvey's (whose 100th anniversary was this year) didn't do much of anything for the occasion. With WD being the larger brand I was hoping for some kind of celebration even if Harvey's wasn't given much of a celebration, but I guess we'll have to see what happens in January (although a sad centennial year is probably in the works no matter what).
Wow, this supermarket has flown a lot of flags over the years! That's interesting how Grand Union used the "Food Market" branding down in Florida, because I've found they used the same verbiage to describe the expansive new Big Star stores in Georgia. Furthermore, A&P carried on that branding for a time following its acquisition of some of the old Big Star locations.
ReplyDeleteThis store looked very nice with its Kash n' Karry facade, so I wonder why Sweetbay removed the louvers and awnings in favor of a plain stucco design. It is also crazy to see that Valrico store all boarded up!
Speaking of the liquor store, I saw the real estate listing for the future tenant and it shows that Aldi plans to keep the adjacent package store during the conversion. It is slated to get new exterior signage, so I still wonder who will end up operating the liquor stores and if they will still honor Winn-Dixie Rewards.
YES! I'm so glad that you linked to my post for Publix #721 because that store was the first thing to cross my mind when I saw your pictures of the grand aisle! Kash n' Karry did quite a good job of sprucing up this supermarket, so it is a shame that we didn't get to see any more examples like it. It also feels like poetic justice for this store to convert to Aldi based on all of the other fallen chains it has served. I agree that Winn-Dixie made us feel like it had finally regained its footing following all of its woes, but it seems now like Aldi might just be the final deadly blow. Here's to hoping that Winn-Dixie survives its centennial year, despite it looking less and less like Aldi will be the one carrying it through that mark. I really wish we could have seen what a Winn-Dixie with an Aldi discount department looked like!
I guess "Food Market" was Grand Union's generic term for a deluxe store in the early 1980's? I guess like the Florida equivalents, Big Star's Food Market stores didn't win over shoppers too much either, as I don't think Big Star lasted in Georgia much longer after the Florida division was sold off.
DeleteThe Sweetbay remodels typically removed all of those awnings and decorations from Kash n' Karry on the exterior in an attempt to modernize the store, as I can see how awnings and louvers (particularly purple and green ones) could be seen as dated by the mid-2000's.
Being off to the side like it is and not intertwined with the salesfloor, it makes sense this liquor store is one considered to be kept open, but it will be interesting to see how long that arrangement lasts. Being that Aldi is taking the right half of this building, I wonder what they'll do about the vaulted ceiling in the grand aisle, if they'll cover it with a new drop ceiling or leave it as it is, as it's not something that can be removed easily.
I didn't think about A&P when I was here in-person, but after seeing your post it clicked in my mind the grand aisles between both of these store designs were very similar. It really makes me wonder if Kash n' Karry did copy A&P's design. I guess like WD with those last two new stores, Delhaize had its own plans for Kash n' Karry following their purchase of the chain, leaving just a handful of examples of what could have been. Thankfully all Delhaize did to Kash n' Karry was tweak the store design and change the decor, rather than buying Kash n' Karry just to cut them all in half and convert them into new Food Lions. A hybrid Winn-Dixie with an Aldi department would have been something, but I guess Aldi is too stubborn to try anything new. Here's to hoping Winn-Dixie's 100th year will give us more than just a chain-wide liquidation sale...
Very cool store! I can remember getting mailers around the early 2000s when Kash N Karry was remodeling its stores from the brown and orange 1980s look into the early 2000s purple, black and yellow decor.
ReplyDeleteThe mailers touted a new round design in the coming remodels. In my mind, that meant the aisles themselves would be round and I couldn’t picture it working. lol
That round design that never came to any of the local stores, but reading about it brings memories of that mailer.
Speaking of Sweetbay, I really don’t understand how they didn’t make it. They had decent service departments and were generally a much more modern store and more competitive on price than the Winn Dixie of the time.
I agree it is a shame what’s happened to Winn Dixie. I just have to wonder if WD has finally lost its steam anyway:
I went into the North Sebring Winn Dixie a few times lately. on Sunday it was actually somewhat busy.
Tonight (a Friday night) there were a few customers in the store, but nothing like the amount that would’ve been in Aldi, Publix or Walmart. It was just sad to see.
The Deli/Bakery and Seafood departments were already closed on a Friday just after 5 PM with the lights turned off and just a couple of chickens in the warmer in the Deli. 3 checkout lines were open, I didn’t see any other employees around the store.
I’m not sure if that’s a low volume store or this is how they’re all now. I try to shop there sometimes, they have nice produce, meats, and I like the Dollar Shop aisle where it’s all $1.25.
It’s just a shame to see that store getting such low volume compared to everything else. The prices just in general are quite high, more so than Publix in quite a few cases. I just don’t know how they can price even generic items like SE Grocers juice for $2 more than you’d pay at Walmart and expect to get traffic. That’s what frustrates me, I try to shop there if I’m in that plaza, but the prices are just a turnoff.
I just don’t think there’s anything to draw people into the store. If you’re going for the cheapest price, you’ll go to Walmart or Aldi, or maybe even Save A Lot. If you are willing to pay more but want better perceived quality, service abd overall experience, you’ll go to Publix.
I think this is the place where Winn Dixie has found itself stuck. It’s unable to compete with Publix on facilities and general “prestige”, yet it isn’t seemingly able to be the “low price leader” that Walmart is or the budget store that Aldi is.
It would’ve been interesting if Aldi could’ve brought some of its items to Winn Dixie, like similar brands or even some of the Aldi finds alongside WD’s Dollar Shop aisle.
I think WD has been ailing for a long time. The remodels it’s done over the last 15 years may have been a way to perceive that it’s doing something to improve for its investors. It is sad that they made such a push with the Win Winn remodels to only get sold to Aldi.
I did like the Win Winn remodel north Sebring got. It is fun and the commercials were positive and fun overall.
I do feel though that remodel might’ve been indicative of North Sebring’s low traffic. I noticed the bakery selection was scaled back quite a bit and quite a few refrigerated cases were removed from that department. The produce section was also scaled back drastically to create the new liquor store.
I really don’t like Aldi keeping those liquor stores and using the WD name on them. It’s like saying WD is only good for a liquor store brand. It really makes this just seem like a liquor store grab for Aldi.
Thanks! Kash n' Karry's round design was certainly unique. Even though only the front part of the store was round, it was still an odd sight for a supermarket! I have heard that Sweetbay wasn't necessarily doing bad, but probably not well enough to justify keeping the chain long-term, especially as Delhaize was probably trying to clean up their books ahead of talks with Ahold to begin that merger deal. Sweetbay was a nice store and a nice alternate that met in the middle of Winn-Dixie and Publix, and it's a shame Delhaize sold them all off.
DeleteI can't say I've ever stumbled into any of my local Winn-Dixies and seen the deli closed by 5pm. One of my local stores has a sign in the deli stating the deli hours are 8am-9pm (store is open 7am-10pm), but other than that the others don't have posted hours. I would hope what you saw at the North Sebring isn't a regular occurrence and just a staffing fluke from the closers calling out that night.
One of the busiest Winn-Dixie stores in my area is one that is being convert to an Aldi, and that store (before it began closing) always drew a decent crowd and constantly had people buying hot foods from the deli and people doing large shopping trips. As I've rotated through other Winn-Dixies in my area for my shopping now that that store is closing, some stores seem slower while others seem busier, but even the busiest Winn-Dixie is hardly a match to a Publix or Aldi at peak shopping hours. Still, in my area after all the stores were remodeled in the early 2020's, it seems like traffic at Winn-Dixie did pick up a little, as even WD's dead stores pre-remodel seemed a little busier afterwards.
Shopping at Winn-Dixie, it seems like their fresh departments are where the chain has priced things the most competitively, especially with baked goods and sliced deli meats, along with good meat promotions. Center store some prices come across as higher than Publix and certainly Walmart in many cases unless you play the sales, unless Winn-Dixie's game was that a strong perimeter would make up for a weaker center store on pricing. Winn-Dixie is definitely a victim of "stuck in the middle" syndrome like Albertsons was, failing to find its place as either a "nice" store or a "cheap" store.
A Winn-Dixie with an Aldi "store within a store" featuring the Aldi finds and some of their other products I think would have been a huge success, but it seems that Aldi is too stubborn to try something like that and would rather poach real estate instead of trying something new that could work well.
I feel like a sale to Aldi wasn't the intended end game for the chain, as why put so much money into remodels and new stores just for Aldi to come in and rip apart all of that investment? I think SEG wanted to entice Kroger instead with cleaner, nicer looking stores, but as Kroger got involved with the Albertsons merger, Aldi somehow slipped and and wood over the investor owners of SEG to sell out. It will be interesting to see what happens with these Aldis with an attached Winn-Dixie liquors, as I still find that arrangement strange. Should Aldi sell off the remaining Winn-Dixie to another party once they take all the stores they want, what would happen to those liquor stores in that case too? Lots of questions still to be answered here.
I did want to follow up, I’ve been to that store again twice this week. Sunday it was busier than I’ve ever seen it, the cashier was telling the customer ahead of me that he was lucky he came when he did because it had actually slowed down a bit from earlier. I also heard from the adjacent line the cashier saying that the Lake Wales store had closed (after the customer mentioned the Avon Park store closing) and that some people were coming down south to shop. Not sure how acetate that is, but I suppose some may be WD supporters.
DeleteI went again tonight and noticed the store still pretty busy, there was another line open. seafood had the lights off again, but Deli/bakery were open and actually had a line of customers at the deli counter, which I’d never seen.
I know it was just Thanksgiving and nowhere near the rush Publix or Walmart were getting, but it was nice to see the store quite busy.
Some of the deals this week were pretty good like on baked goods.
I’ve found some things to be quite high, like Pepsi products are $3.69 I think, which is about the highest I’ve seen.
I also visited Lake Placid store for the first time… yes that far out one. It was doing a good business too, it was a cool store to visit… it was much cleaner and in better shape than I expected. It was neat seeing a store with self checkouts too. I also felt nostalgic as if I was a kid going to Food Lion again!
I’m curious to see what plays out. Some of the things I see here and there make me think maybe Aldi really plans to still have a “non-insignificant number of Winn Dixie stores remain”. But the pessimistic side of me says they’re just doing a slow phase out of the brand.
If they did keep them, I feel like selling them to C&S would be the best scenario. I don’t believe Kroger is an option at this point and while I was skeptical of C&S being able to properly run and maintain them, it seems like actually they could handle it.
I just am not sure just from my area that there would be enough stores left to make a viable chain. There are already multiple conversions at this point, and more to come I fear.
I was at Winn-Dixie yesterday as well, and the cashier was telling the person in front of me in line that the day before Thanksgiving was always that store's best day of the year in terms of sales. Considering how busy it was yesterday afternoon, I'd have to agree! Even over the weekend Winn-Dixie was pretty busy out here too, so I can only imagine how crazy Publix and Walmart were if Winn-Dixie was crowded.
DeleteThat's dedication to drive down from Lake Wales to keep shopping at Winn-Dixie! While Avon Park still had the North Sebring Winn-Dixie to fall back on, Lake Wales shoppers now have to go to either North Sebring or Dundee, both of which are a bit of a drive for grocery shopping. I applaud the dedication though!
$3.69 is quite high for a Pepsi 2L, especially when Walmart is closer to $2 for those these days. I wonder if vendors haven't been giving Winn-Dixie the best deals lately with the company seemingly shrinking.
I'm glad you were able to make it to the Lake Placid store! It's an interesting Winn-Dixie considering it still looks much like it did when Food Lion was there. I visited that store once almost a decade ago and it was quite the experience. I spoke with someone else who visited that store recently and he said even though the old Sweetbay decor was falling apart in places, it wasn't a bad store overall. While Lake Placid lacks Aldi, that site seems like a poor location for an Aldi being way out on the edge of town in a spot Aldi would never build a store. Had that old Lake Placid Winn-Dixie been kept in town, that would have seemed like a perfect contender for conversion.
With the way Aldi is taking whatever Winn-Dixie stores they want without much of a care, I'm afraid too that whatever is left that isn't converted will be a random patchwork of stores. At least pre-conversions, Winn-Dixie still had a good presence across much of Florida. Post-conversions, there will be lots of gaps. Maybe Aldi is just a filler until the Kroger-Albertsons deal is settled, at which point whatever is left may go to C&S once that distraction is out of the way. I've seen lots of rumors floated about what will happen to the remains of Winn-Dixie, but C&S taking the rest is probably the most likely. However, who knows.
Here goes Aldi planning right here https://corporate.aldi.us/fileadmin/fm-dam/real_estates/Available_Properties/2404_Bradenton__FL.pdf
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that - I believe Winn-Dixie's last day at this location is this Sunday 12/15, so those plans will be coming to life very soon.
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