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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Winn-Dixie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of siviaiz11 on Google Maps

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

Photo courtesy of L Cardinal Google Maps

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Tom Whiteside on Google Maps

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

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

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

The Albertsons Florida Blogger

Publix Forever and Evergreen

Publix #1684

155 Bartram Market Drive, St. Johns, FL - Bartram Market

     Earlier this year, we got to tour an example of Publix's newest prototype design, called the 49M model, the name derived from its 49,000 square foot size. While we got to see the new design and layout, there was a critical component of the new prototype missing from that post - Publix's new interior decor! While most of the original 49M prototypes to open in late 2019 featured Publix's longtime decor package, our dear friend Classy Market 3.0 (officially called 'Sienna' by Publix), it wasn't until the beginning of 2020 that the new decor package, called Evergreen, really began to take off. Officially debuting in September 2019 at the opening of Publix #1666 in Palmetto, FL, the new Evergreen decor became a huge contrast to the colorful earth-toned color palate of Classy Market 3.0. Featuring a grayscale theme, Evergreen became one of Publix's boldest decor changes since the early 2000's. While I was able to preview Publix's new prototype early in its debut, it took me until only a few weeks ago before I got to see the new decor that was to compliment these prototype stores. With the Evergreen decor becoming more common as we entered the final months of 2020, I was finally able to find one to incorporate into my road trip plans - those plans taking us to the unincorporated community of St. Johns, FL, a southern suburb of Jacksonville.

     Until the turn of the millennium, St. Johns was a mostly rural area south of Jacksonville, with its greatest population located along SR 13 near the eastern bank of the St. John's River. As Florida's population boom of the 2000's came into full swing, developers began to drop new communities in the area, coveting St. Johns proximity to the Jacksonville metro area. Completion of the new SR 9B/Future I-795 freeway and extension of the St. John's Parkway has also made St. Johns a new retail hub for the area, the area's new retail core popping up just south of the junction of Interstate 95 and SR 9B. The big draw to the area is the new Pavilion at Durbin Park power center, its first phase anchored by Walmart, Home Depot, and a Cinemark theater. However, the much larger second phase to the Pavilion at Durbin Park, which has yet to begin construction, will include a Bass Pro Shop, three yet to be announced major anchors, and a Ferris wheel. There's lots of excitement happening over here when it comes to retail development, so whoever says big box retail development is dead, please send them over to Durbin Park!

     With all the development happening over here, especially at the power center across the street, of course Florida's favorite supermarket had to get a piece of the action! Publix announced the construction of their new St. Johns store in November 2018, the announcement coinciding with the opening of Phase 1 of The Pavilion at Durbin Park. Publix officially opened the new store on February 20, 2020, making this one of the first handful of Publix stores to debut with the new Evergreen decor. With a new Publix decor floating around out there, I really wanted to see it before the novelty of it wore off. I'm sure you guys want to see the interior of this place just as much as I do, so enough rambling - let's head inside!

     Stepping into the vestibule, Evergreen gives us a much bigger welcome to the store than the much more subtle welcome we got from the Classy Market 3.0 decor.

     Stepping through the front doors, the new deli island is the first thing you see, in all of its Evergreen glory. Even though this decor is called Evergreen (which is Publix's official name for this decor, per some construction documents that were sent to me a while back by nwretail), there's very little green to be found in it. The aisle markers and some small accent pictures are about the only green you'll find in the Evergreen decor, as the majority of the new color scheme is grayscale. I think the name "Evergreen" is more so a nod to Publix's longtime employee mantra of "Bleed Green" and Publix's ties to that color, rather than the name being a reference to the actual color scheme of the decor itself.

     In front of the deli island is the customer service desk, which makes its return to the front wall after being located in an island next to the check lanes throughout the Classy Market 3.0 days. In-store grocery pickup is also located in this area, in the nook next to the service desk.

     Another prominent feature you see when first entering the store is the salad and hot foods bar. Publix has been doing a lot of experimenting lately with Grab and Go foods and making those more convenient to shoppers who are in a hurry. Placing the salad/hot foods bar like this by the front doors and check lanes achieves the convenience factor Publix is going for. I happened to visit this store right around lunch time on a weekday, and the food bar was quite popular. I had to circle back here a few times to get a shot of it without a bunch of people surrounding it!

     According to a sign posted just out of frame, the theme of the foods on the hot bar changes daily. Some of the themes included Asian food, barbecue, and seafood. The day I was here happened to be Italian day, and the selection sure did look quite good! I like the changing themes Publix does here - it gives customers more variety, and makes the selection more exciting than seeing the same foods here every day.

     From the food bars, here's a look back toward the deli island.

     As usual with these new deli islands, each side of it holds a different feature. The side we see here is the main deli counter, home to the cold cuts and deli salads. Facing the entryway is the Pub Sub counter, with the remaining sides being home to additional hot foods and a cooler for gourmet/specialty cheeses.

     Like I blogged about previously, 2020 marked Publix's 90th year in business. Unfortunately, the madness of 2020 put a damper on whatever grand plans Publix had to mark the occasion, although as we moved into the latter half of the year, a few small references to the occasion began to appear. One of the few things Publix did to mark their 90th anniversary publicly was release a new special edition deli tea, a citrus blossom flavored one specifically. The citrus blossom (or more specifically, orange blossom) is Florida's state flower, and a major symbol throughout the state (even appearing on our license plates). This iced tea flavor was developed as a nod to Publix's Floridian roots, and sounds quite good actually. I'm sure it pairs well with a slice of Key lime pie!

     Moving away from the deli counter, we enter the produce department. Produce takes up the majority of the store's "grand aisle", with deli meats and juices lining the wall in those coolers to my right.

     Here we see the deli island from within the produce department.

     Floral is tucked into a small nook at the front of the produce department, backing up against the side of aisle 1.

     Moving away from the old curved produce signage of Classy Market 3.0, Evergreen uses these square-shaped, hanging wooden signs to designate the produce department. Evergreen gives off a much more sleek, modern style than Classy Market 3.0 did. Classy Market 3.0 had a more timeless feel to it, while Evergreen takes advantage of a lot of the current supermarket decor trends: graysacles, wood paneling/accenting, and large all caps fonts for department signage, to name a few.

     Some stock photos break up the blank space on the side wall, including one photo that was cut up in a way that reminds me of vertical window blinds.

     Some meat coolers round out the space on the right side wall, as we leave produce and head toward the meat department itself.

     The meat service counter is located in the back right corner of the store, with the seafood counter located immediately next to that.

     Spinning the camera around, here's a look across the back wall of the store. A close-up of the seafood counter is visible to my right, with the dairy department occupying those coolers along the back wall.

     Located between the meat and seafood counters was a cooler containing the Publix Apron's Meal Kits, an offering that gets its own section and wall signage in these new prototype stores.

     Stepping forward just a little bit more, here's a better look across the store's back wall and the beginning of the dairy department.

     The dairy signage itself. There's a sign identical to this further down the back wall as you get closer to the bakery.

     The dairy department stock photos provide another small pop of green into the otherwise gray-painted environment, another pop of green coming from the aisle markers as well.

     Let's take a short diversion down a few of the grocery aisles as we continue our tour of this Evergreen Publix...

     Like Publix's other larger prototypes, these new stores also feature a drop ceiling over the center grocery aisles, which gives this part of the store a completely different feel.

     Here's a quick overview of the front end before we jump back into the grocery aisles. Seen here quite clearly, Evergreen's aisle markers are essentially the same design as the ones from Classy Market 3.0, just with a new color scheme and font.

     As usual with Publix, everything is placed perfectly on the shelves. Very rarely do you ever see products on the shelves at Publix looking completely tossed around.

     Frozen foods are located in two aisles in the middle of the store, Publix's preferred placement for this department since the mid-2000's.

     Returning to the back of the store, here's a look at the half of the building we've covered so far. Now we'll jump into aisle 9 for a look at the other half of the frozen foods department:

     As usual, the drop ceiling breaks away over the frozen foods aisles, allowing for easier access to the pipes and tubing that run from the frozen foods coolers up into the ceiling.

     Entering aisle 10, we find pet foods, and the drop ceiling begins to make its return.

     Like the "PETS" sign seen here, the Evergreen decor uses a lot of other similar signage throughout the store, whether it be as category markers (like this) or for other decorative signage.

     Health and beauty products can be found in aisle 13, the the remainder of these products (and the pharmaceuticals) located in the few short aisles in front of the pharmacy counter.

     One of the oddities of these new prototypes stores is the placement of the bakery in the back left corner of the store, seemingly all by itself. Since the mid-1990's, Publix would group the bakery into its "grand aisle" with the deli and produce, putting all the service departments in one place. The reason for this oddity, per this article (which is a great read about these new prototype stores, by the way), is that Publix "ran out of space" when designing the ideal new layout. I guess that's as good of a reason as any! That same article also touches on Publix's search for new ways to make their stores more convenient for shoppers (a topic I touched on earlier), and the reasons for some of the other layout changes. It's a nice summary for a lot of what you've seen so far, with a lot of information provided by Brian West, Publix's media and communications manager. The article also seems to suggest that Wegmans may have been of inspiration for Publix to make some of these changes. Now that Wegmans and Publix overlap in parts of North Carolina and Virginia - both of which are similar chains with similar die-hard followings - Publix may have wanted to tweak their in-store experience to better compete with Wegmans.

     While the bakery is all on its own now, it still looks nice with its Evergreen refresh. I like the look of the backlit sign with the shiny textured panel behind it.

     Leaving the bakery, the store's last aisle is home to beer and wine. Again, a nice splash of green comes from the photos hanging above the coolers. Actually, the panel above the "Cold Beer" placard reads "I ♥ Green #Publix", a fun little way to slip in a Publix reference within the images!

     Here's a reverse view down the beer and wine aisle, looking back toward the bakery.

     Rounding the corner from the beer and wine aisle, the pharmacy will come into view:

     Even in these new prototype stores, the pharmacy retains its longtime home in the front left corner of the building.

     Now that we've seen the pharmacy, here are a few photos looking across the store's front end.

     The only decor piece Publix carried over to Evergreen from Classy Market 3.0 were the check lane lights. The lights are the same shape and design as the ones from Classy Market 3.0, with the same sayings on the back of them ("Now for the easy part", for example). The only minor difference with the lights (which I didn't notice until I was here in person) was the font for the number was changed to the font used on the Evergreen aisle markers. If you zoom in on the above image or the next one, and compare it to this image, you'll notice the subtle difference.

     Here's one more photo of the check lanes, but our tour isn't over yet. The most fun part of these new prototype Publix stores is the mezzanine dining area that looks over the store's front end, which we'll wrap up this tour with:

     Heading upstairs, here's an overview of the dining area itself. I like these new dining areas, with the high top tables, regular tables, and even a small lounge area with a couch and some comfy chairs. Until the debut of these prototypes, Publix's in-store dining areas were usually limited to a few tables in a small nook by the store's front end, so this is a huge upgrade! The new dining areas also include a sink and a microwave for frozen foods, which puts this setup more in line with what I've seen before at Whole Foods.

     Here's a reverse view of the dining area, looking back toward the stairs. A manager's office is located up here as well, behind that door with the window in it.

     However, the best part of the mezzanine setup is the view from above. To finish up the post, here are a few photos of the store as seen from the mezzanine, which is always a fun vantage point for looking at everything we just saw.

     I didn't get a very good shot of the self-checkouts from ground level, but this view from upstairs does a much better job!

     Here's one last downward view before we head outside and wrap things up...

     What we just saw here is what we have to look forward to from Publix in the coming years. I'm quite happy overall with the new store design and decor, although the new decor is quite the change from the colorful Classy Market 3.0 we've grown so fond of over the last decade. As of late 2020, Classy Market 3.0 stores are still trickling out, as so far, only stores using the new prototype design have been getting the Evergreen decor. Going into 2021 though, I'm expecting that to gradually change, as I've been told that Evergreen is supposed to start going chain wide by sometime in 2022 for all new stores and remodels (which makes sense, as Classy Market 3.0 had a similar prototype and transition period when that decor made its debut in the early 2010s). While the Evergreen decor looks nice in these new stores, I'm quite curious to see how this look will translate to a 1980's built Publix with a drop ceiling. Classy Market 3.0 looked really good in every store Publix put that in, so I'm curious to see if Evergreen will translate to the older stores just as well.

     That's about all I have to say for the next era of Publix. I'm sure you guys will probably want to share your own thoughts on the Publix of the future as well in the comments below, and I'm curious to know what you guys think! While Publix is embracing a new prototype and a new decor, something similar is happening with the competition as well. We all know Publix opens new stores left and right all the time, but now Winn-Dixie has begun opening some new stores for the first time in ages too. We're going to spend the entire month of January looking at two examples of Winn-Dixie's new stores, and taking in the company's newfound faith in revitalizing itself. I know a lot of you are interested in those new Winn-Dixie stores, so starting on January 10, 2021, we'll get to see the first of those here on AFB. Be sure to come back then for the first of those posts!

     So that's all I have to say for now, as we conclude the year 2020 on AFB. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone, and let's see what adventures 2021 will bring us! So until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger