The Rarest Winn-Dixie Interior

Winn-Dixie #364

3320 SE Salerno Road, Stuart, FL - Salerno Village

     ***Update 8/7/18 - The rare Winn-Dixie interior that is the subject of this post was removed in a remodel that took place in July 2018. While the rare decor is now gone, at least these photos are still here to document it.***

     After Winn-Dixie's Marketplace era came to an around 2000, an era which involved the construction of hundreds of new stores throughout Florida and the southeast, Winn-Dixie's new store construction slowed down dramatically. Between the end of the Marketplace era around 2000 and the bankruptcy in 2005, Winn-Dixie was only opening a handful of new stores per year (if that). It was during that time period where Winn-Dixie introduced the Purple/Maroon interior as a way to refresh many of remaining older stores that never got a remodel to the Marketplace format. However, the small number of new stores Winn-Dixie opened from the retirement of the Marketplace interior until the bankruptcy received a special interior primarily used in ground-up built stores (although a few special stores that got deluxe remodels during that era also received this interior). That special rare interior will be the subject of this post. This Winn-Dixie in Stuart is one of (if not) the very last Winn-Dixies to still have this interior completely intact. Over the last decade, the few stores that had this interior have either closed or were chosen as some of the lucky few to receive thorough remodels. Before jumping into the details about this specific Winn-Dixie, I have included a short list of all of the stores I know of (meaning this list is not exhaustive, but I think I got most of them) that received this rare interior we will be taking an extensive look at shortly, and the fate of each store:

Winn-Dixie stores that received the Pre-Bankruptcy Deluxe Purple/Maroon interior:

• Winn-Dixie #2 – Jacksonville, FL (CR 210) – Given a Transformational remodel in 2011
• Winn-Dixie #5 - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL - This was the first Deluxe Purple/Maroon format store to open, opening in a former Winn-Dixie building that had been empty for two years. Remodeled to The Green Interior around 2014/2015-ish.
• Winn-Dixie #6 (2003-2010) / #7 (2016-present) – Jacksonville, FL (Baymeadows) – Closed in 2010, Reopened in 2016 as the first deluxe “Down Down” interior store.
• Winn-Dixie #135 - Green Cove Springs, FL - Remodeled to the post-bankruptcy interior in the late 2000s
• Winn-Dixie #290 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Remodeled to The Green Interior in 2014
• Winn-Dixie #364 – Stuart, FL - Remodeled to the Down Down interior in July 2018
• Winn-Dixie #390 – Riviera Beach, FL – Closed in 2014
• Winn-Dixie #415 - Clay, AL - Closed in the 2005 bankruptcy
• Winn-Dixie #451 - Millbrook, AL - Remodeled to Post-Bankruptcy in the late 2000's
• Winn-Dixie #667 – Wauchula, FL – A Marketplace era store severely damaged by Hurricane Charley in 2004. This store reopened in 2005 after a heavy remodel, which included the use of the rare Deluxe Purple/Maroon interior, the only non-ground up built store I know of to get this interior. This store closed in early 2016 in favor of a new store in the former Sweetbay on the other side of town.
• Winn-Dixie #2200 - Winter Garden, FL - Closed during the 2005 bankruptcy.
• Winn-Dixie #2207 – St. Cloud, FL – Remodeled to the Post-Bankruptcy interior in the late 2000s
• Winn-Dixie #2215 – Orlando, FL (Apopka-Vineland) – Remodeled to the Post-Bankruptcy interior in the late 2000s

     As for the store that will be the subject of this post, this Winn-Dixie opened in 2004. It replaced a much older Winn-Dixie that dated back to 1976, located at this same site (the old store was located in right half of the parking lot of the current store). With a 2004 opening date, this store was one of the last new Winn-Dixies to open before the bankruptcy the next year. The store model you see here was the most common design used for new build Winn-Dixie stores constructed between 2000-2005, although there were some other small variations to this look out there. While not the most exciting exterior in the world, this store does look fairly modern from the outside. Personally, I think this store model looks a lot like a boxier version of an early 2000's Albertsons.

     So let's go on inside and take a look at the rarest Winn-Dixie interior...

     ...but first, here's a store directory that was on one of the shopping carts to give everyone some kind of idea about the store's layout. Notice how in the store's address, 'Salerno' is misspelled. Anyway, now for that rare interior:

     Immediately upon entering and turning to the right, you enter the bakery. This is typically the first good look of the Deluxe Purple/Maroon interior one gets upon first entering. The bakery here is in the front right corner, and the right side wall angles out into the deli before creating a wide pocket for produce in the back right corner, which we will be seeing shortly. Other than the old Winn-Dixie logo which pops up in some of the signage in this decor, Deluxe Purple/Maroon doesn't took too terribly dated. I don't know why Winn-Dixie spent the money to do fairy sizable remodels at five stores from this era. I think they should have put that money toward remodels at some of their really old stores, and saved these stores for last.

     Closeup of the bakery signage.

     Immediately next to the bakery is the deli.

     Looking back at the Bakery and Deli from produce. You can see in this photo how the wall angles toward the produce department to create a pocket in the back right corner for produce.

     Looking into the produce department from near the deli.

    Produce signage.

     This is looking into the back right corner of the store. You can see the old Winn-Dixie logo inlayed over that picture above the coolers.

     Moving along the back wall from produce, the first department you run into is "Land & Sea", the service counter for Meats and Seafood.

     Looking across the back of the store. The aisle markers and that "Customer Service" sign are the same ones that can be found in the more common standard Purple/Maroon interior. You can also see the wall signage for the meat department here, although somewhat blocked by the hanging signs.

     The first grocery aisle (which is unnumbered) is this one, home to the beer and wine. The beer coolers back up to the coolers in the produce department.

     Floral is located in this small island at the end of the beer and wine aisle.

     Looking across the front end, with the pharmacy in the background.

     The juice and soda aisle was very well stocked and very neat.

     Aisle 4.

      "Fresh Meats" sign, partially blocked by that Down Down promotional sign. As you've probably been able to tell from all of the promotional signage, Winn-Dixie was really pushing their Down Down thing earlier this year. They had hundreds of signs for it hanging from shelves and the ceiling. In the very beginning there were "Big Red Hand" balloons everywhere too! Down Down has died off a bit now, but it's still in place as Winn-Dixie and BI-LO's primary marketing campaign right now.

     Lots of Down Down signs in this aisle. This aisle, Aisle 6, also contains the first half aisle of Frozen Foods.

     This is the main frozen foods aisle. This aisle isn't numbered, and it lies between aisles 6 and 7 (I guess that makes this aisle 6 1/2 then?).

     Milk coolers lie straight ahead, with the rest of the dairy items (yogurt, cheese, butter, etc.) around the corner in the last aisle.

     Throughout the store, the Deluxe Purple/Maroon decor includes a lot of these pictures of tropical and beach scenes. I think this is supposed to be some kind of local flair feature to tie into Winn-Dixie's Florida roots.

     The last aisle, home to paper products and the remainder of the dairy department, including the "World of Cheese". This aisle is also unnumbered, and according to the numbering pattern should be aisle 12, although this store has a total of 15 or 16 aisles if you factor in all of the random unnumbered ones.

     Looking from the "World of Cheese" toward the back of the store. "Fresh Dairy" is what it says on the next sign.

     The final sign in the last aisle is for the "Luncheon Meats".

     And a final look at the back of the store before spending the rest of this post up front.

     In the front left corner of the store is the pharmacy. If you've been following recent news out of Winn-Dixie and Southeastern Grocers, they announced a series of pharmacy closures in late October 2016 and early November 2016. While the pharmacy at this store was not effected (at least I don't think it was - I haven't heard any news saying otherwise), a total of 29 Winn-Dixie pharmacies (that I know of) were closed during this time in the Jacksonville, Orlando, Lakeland, Tampa Bay, Pensacola, Palm Bay, and Fort Myers areas. 6 BI-LO pharmacies were also effected by this as well. According to Winn-Dixie, these closures were prompted due to "changing market conditions", with all prescriptions transferred to local CVS stores. Supposedly, pharmacy closures are something Winn-Dixie does to mark poorly performing stores, which could make closure of the effected stores more likely in the future. In the last few months, Winn-Dixie closed stores in Gainesville and Winter Park, but those are the only store closings I've heard of since the end of summer. With that news out of the way, let's get back to our look at this store...

     Looking back across the front end from the pharmacy. As is typical with many grocery stores these days, the Health and Beauty products are located in a few short aisles in front of the pharmacy, and run perpendicular the the main grocery aisles. In this photo you can see one of the health and beauty aisles.

    Another look across the front end.

     Behind Health and Beauty (and that giant pallet of water) is the customer service counter.

     Here you can see the customer service signage much better...

     And here you can see the customer service counter much better. 

     Between health and beauty and the registers was this open space, which was lightly filled with pallets and racks of sale items. That empty counter space to the left of the customer service desk looks to have been the previous home of the photo department.

     Books and magazines reside in that small alcove between the entrance and the former photo counter, behind the registers.

     A final look across the front end before we leave...

     Thank you for shopping your neighborhood Winn-Dixie. So that completes our interior tour of this store. Overall, this Winn-Dixie was very clean and well taken care of. In recent times, even during and after the bankruptcy, Winn-Dixie has not closed any of their 4 Martin County stores (2 in Stuart, including this one, 1 in Jensen Beach, and 1 in Hobe Sound), a fairly rare occurrence in these populated coastal counties where Publix has complete dominance of the market. Each Martin County Winn-Dixie has a Publix within 1 mile of it too, so they're doing something right around here.

     And lastly, a quick photo of the attached liquor store, located on the left side of the building.

     Bing Maps doesn't have any Bird's Eye aerial images available for this area, so we'll jump right ahead to the historic aerial images, courtesy of Google Earth:

Winn-Dixie #364 - 2016

Winn-Dixie #364 - 2009

Winn-Dixie #364 - 2004 - The new store had just opened when this image was taken. You can see the site of where the original Winn-Dixie was in the parking lot of the new store.

Former Winn-Dixie #245/Future Winn-Dixie #364 - 1999 - Here you can see the original store, store #245. That tiny old store was doing quite a bit of business back in '99!

     So that's all I have for this post. However, a quick programming note regarding the next feature post: The next feature post will not be going up two Sundays from now, it will go up the Tuesday after two Sundays from now (December 6th). That post will feature one of the most interesting former Albertsons Florida stores that exists! Don't miss it!

So until then,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger

Former Albertsons #4341 and #4382 - Stuart, FL

Albertsons #4341/Shopper's World Flea Market/Scotty's Hardware #37

2281 SE Federal Highway (US 1), Stuart, FL - Stuart Centre

***Classic Photo Above Courtesy of William S. All Other Photos taken by AFB***

     The story of Albertsons' two stores in Stuart is a bit of a strange case. While I've been able to figure out much of the backstory on these two stores, there are still many unknowns about Albertsons' time in Stuart (especially with the second store). However, let's begin this post by starting at the beginning:

     In 1980, Albertsons opened their first Stuart store at the southeast corner of US 1 and Monterey Road, one of the busiest intersections in Stuart. The new Albertsons was a part of a new complex called Stuart Centre, which featured Zayre and Luria's as its other anchors. The photo above is a photo of the original Stuart Albertsons (Store #4341) taken sometime in the 80's. Overall it was a typical Skaggs Model store, however due to the size constraints of the lot it was built on, 4341 was on the tiny side, coming in around 50,000 square feet. While 50,000 square feet was pretty large for a grocery store back in the 80's, it was small for Albertsons. Most of Albertsons stores in the early 80's were around 55,000-60,000 square feet. By the late 80's Albertsons began to feel cramped in their tiny store, and they began to show interest in relocating. In 1988, an opportunity came up for Albertsons when Kroger announced they were pulling out of Florida and selling all of their remaining Florida Choice stores. Across the street from 4341 was a Florida Choice store that was now up for sale, which Albertsons snapped right up. Later in 1988, Albertsons moved to the newer and much larger building across the street, leaving tiny old 4341 behind after only 8 years there. I'll pick back up with what happened to Albertsons after the move to the replacement store (Store #4382) in a little bit, but there's still a bit to explain as far as the fate of 4341. The building sat vacant until January 1992, when Albertsons rented the building to a business called Shoppers World, which was a flea market. In August 1992, only after a few months in operation, Shoppers World closed without warning among claims of financial troubles by the owners. After Shoppers World closed, it was revealed that the owners had also stopped paying rent to Albertsons, something that had gone on since April 1992. All of this led to a year long lawsuit between Albertsons and the owners of Shoppers World, which was finally resolved in 1993. After the Shoppers World fiasco was resolved, Albertsons found another tenant for 4341 in 1994: Scotty's Hardware. Scotty's renovated the building by adding a lumber yard to the left side of the building, but otherwise they left it mostly intact from when Albertsons left. Scotty's would remain in this building until the early 2000's, but closed before the rest of the chain in 2005. After Scotty's closed, Albertsons finally sold their old building to the owners of the rest of Stuart Centre, who decided to tear down the old Albertsons building in order to extend the plaza with more small storefronts. So in early 2006, 4341 was demolished.

     Above is a photo of some of the storefronts that currently occupy the site that was once home to the former Albertsons building. As was expected, there isn't a trace of anything left from Albertsons here. Most of the site where the original Albertsons building was located is now the parking lot for these storefronts, with most of the plaza extension being pushed further back on the lot.

     More of the new plaza. The portion of the building where Mattress Firm is located backs up to the original plaza that opened in 1980.

      In this parking lot once stood an Albertsons. Since there wasn't much here to photograph, let's jump into some satellite imagery before jumping across the street to the replacement store:

     This satellite images shows an overview of the entirety of Stuart Centre and the locations of the original anchors. The "J" shaped piece of the plaza in the top left is the new portion of the plaza built over the former Albertsons site in 2006. While we're here, let's take a quick look at the homes of the other former tenants of this plaza:

Luria's #120

2339 SE Federal Highway, Stuart, FL - Stuart Centre

     Luria's opened with the rest of the plaza in 1980, and this location closed sometime in the mid-90's (probably 1996 or 1997-ish) as Luria's began to close most of their locations before going completely out of business in 1997. For those of you who don't know, Luria's was a Miami based catalog showroom chain (of similar format to a Service Merchandise), which (like many of the other catalog stores) focused much of their business on selling jewelry, although they also sold items in a variety of other departments. At their peak in the 1980's, Luria's had over 50 stores throughout Florida. Between the Luria family selling out in the early 90's and the fall in popularity of catalog stores at the same time, it was all downhill for Luria's in the 90's. If you're interested in a more thorough history about Luria's, this website has a pretty good history about them. Anyway, Luria's old space is now a Home Goods, and fairly unrecognizible after the facelift the exterior of the plaza received back in 2006.

Zayre #659/Ames #2659

2377 SE Federal Highway, Stuart, FL - Stuart Centre

***Above image courtesy of Google Maps Streetview***

     I forgot to get my own picture of this portion of the plaza, but this works. The Stuart Zayre store opened in 1980, and became an Ames in 1988 when they bought out Zayre. Like the other Ames stores in Florida, they all closed in 1990 when Ames declared bankruptcy due to their purchase of Zayre to begin with. Ironically enough, Zayre's former sister chain, TJ Maxx, now occupies most of this former Zayre, with Office Depot taking up the rest of the building.

     Now with that quick tour of the rest of the plaza out of the way, let's jump back over to the former Albertsons site for a trip back through time with satellite imagery courtesy of Google Earth:

Former Albertsons #4341 - 2016 - This shows the section of new storefronts built over the former Albertsons site.

Former Albertsons #4341 - Late 2006 - The Albertsons building is now gone, and construction has begun on the new strip of stores and a new parking lot.

Former Albertsons #4341 - Early 2006 - There's the old Albertsons! Like I said earlier, this store was tiny compared to other Albertsons stores from this era. The white rectangle on the left side of the building was an addition added on by Scotty's to house part of their lumber yard.

Former Albertsons #4341 - 2003

Former Albertsons #4341 - 1995 - Here Scotty's was still in business. 

     The map you see above shows the locations of the original Stuart Albertsons (#4341, at the top of the image), and its replacement, store #4382, at the bottom of the image. Not very far of a move at all, just to the plaza at the opposite corner. Let's jump over to the site of store #4382 to see what's happening over there:

Florida Choice #606/Albertsons #4382

2508 SE Federal Highway (US 1), Stuart, FL - Regency Square

     Albertsons relocated from store #4341 across the street to this store in late 1988, after purchasing this building from Kroger when they pulled out of Florida earlier that same year. Originally, this building housed a Kroger Florida Choice store. Florida Choice opened here in 1987, barely lasting a year when Kroger pulled out of the state. When this store first opened as Albertsons, I'm sure they were happy to be here. This store was 5,000 square feet larger than the original Stuart Albertsons, and had a much larger parking lot. Other than that, I don't know many specifics about the store itself. I believe Albertsons kept most of the Florida Choice building and layout intact during their time here, but I can't say for sure. Hardly anything exists online about this place. Also, when Recency Square first opened, all of the stores in the plaza had to have their signs in red (a feature that the plaza's landlords no longer enforce, however some of the old red signs still remain). I've always wondered if Florida Choice and Albertsons had to have their typically blue and white logos in red as well to match the rest of the plaza. Anyway, Albertsons lasted in this location until November 6, 1997. According to Albertsons, they closed this store because the local Stuart trade area was "not being as competitive" and that "the trade area has extended to the west and south; the bulk of the population has shifted." Albertsons said that their new store in Jupiter (Store #4446, located 20 miles to the south of here), which was set to open a few days after this store closed in November 1997, would essentially serve as a replacement for this store (although I don't think the original intent of the new Jupiter store was for it to be a direct replacement of this one - I think Albertsons just used the timing of that store's opening to their advantage as an excuse to close this one). After Albertsons left, this building sat empty until 2000, when the space was split between Stein Mart and a Books-A-Million. The landlord's original plan was to get Staples to rent a portion of the former Albertsons space, but that didn't go through. Currently, Stein Mart is still here, however Books-A-Million closed their store in the late 2000's. Not long after Books-A-Million left, West Marine moved into this space, relocating from a smaller store across the street.

     Like with the original Stuart Albertsons, there really isn't anything from Albertsons left over here either. When the building was subdivided in 2000, the interior was completely gutted and the exterior was completely rebuilt. However, at least the original structure remains over here, which is one thing that didn't happen across the street.

     West Marine takes up the right side of the building, where (if I got the layout right), would have been home to  Florida Choice and Albertsons's bakery and dairy aisles. The original entrance to Florida Choice and Albertsons was in the general area of where West Marine's entrance currently is as well (however the original entrance looked nothing like this). The liquor store would have also been tucked off to the side of the original entrance in the main building. 

     Looking down the front walkway, from the front of West Marine toward Stein Mart. While we're here, we might as well go inside West Marine and Stein Mart to see what the interior of this place looks like now.

     First up is West Marine. For those of you who aren't familiar with West Marine, they are a chain of stores that specializes in selling boat parts and accessories, although they also sell watersports and fishing items, and outdoorsy clothing and shoes.

     This side of the store has gone through two thorough renovations in its life: From Florida Choice/Albertsons to Books-A-Million, and from Books-A-Million to West Marine. With that being the case, and as I suspected, there was not a trace of anything original in here, not even anything from Books-A-Million.

     While the front part of the store was dedicated to the clothing and watersports stuff, the back part of the store with the numbered aisles was dedicated to boat parts and accessories, West Marine's core area.

     More boat parts...

     One last look toward the front of the store before moving next door to Stein Mart...

     Stein Mart takes up the left side of the building, where Florida Choice and Albertsons' produce, pharmacy, and deli departments would have been.

     Heading inside Stein Mart...

     If you're not familiar with Stein Mart, they're a department store chain that sells merchandise of the same type and pricepoint like you would find at a place like JCPenney. Their stores are not as large as a traditional department store, but they still offer the same type of merchandise. This is looking down one of Stein Mart's main aisles after walking into the store. Again, nothing from the grocery store days in here.

     Looking from the back of Stein Mart toward the front of the store.

     The back of the store.

     One last interior photo. I think this was looking into the back right of Stein Mart's space. Somewhere back here was Florida Choice and Albertsons' meat department.

     So that's really all there is as far as the current state of former Albertsons #4382 is concerned. Here's one last photo of the exterior of the former Albertsons.

   At the other end of Regency Square is the plaza's other anchor, the independently run Regency 8 Cinema. This movie theater has been here since the plaza was built in 1987, although originally it was affiliated with Cobb Cinemas.

     The plaza's road sign, with this one being the one that faces Monterey Road.

     Here's an overview of the entirety of Regency Square. The former Florida Choice/Albertsons is the large building at the bottom of the image, and the movie theater is toward the top left. Now for a look at some Google Earth historic aerial images of the Albertsons building:

Former Albertsons #4382 - 2006

Former Albertsons #4382 - 1999 - Here we see the building in its original form. At this time, Albertsons had already closed and Stein Mart and Books-A-Million had yet to move in.

Albertsons #4382 - 1995 - I think this is the clearest image I have of the original look of this building. I don't know the what the exact design of this Florida Choice building was, but I think it looked something close to this design by going off of the building's outline.

     So that's all I've got on the two former Albertsons stores in Stuart. I realize neither of these two former Albertsons stores were all that interesting to look at, but Stuart does have some much more interesting retail hiding around town. For the next feature post, we will stay in Stuart for a look at a Bonus Buy store, a store that may very well be one of the last of its kind. That will be coming up in two weeks, so be sure to come back for that!

So until the next time,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger