Some Winn-Dixies in Florida are becoming Aldi stores. Are there any in Palm Beach County?

Get your quarters ready. The process of converting some Winn-Dixie grocery stores in Florida into Aldi stores has begun after the Germany-based company acquired them.

Which ones? Aldi is keeping this list mostly to itself, but some news is leaking out.

“We have officially initiated the conversion process for the first stores, including stores in Panama City, Deltona, Pensacola and Lakeland, Florida,” an Aldi spokesperson said by email.

The newly remodeled stores will be smaller – Aldi grocery stores are typically about half the size of an average Winn-Dixie or Publix supermarket – and will be “stocked with only the items customers need” to provide “a quick, easy shopping experience with great products at the lowest possible prices,” Aldi said.

According to Business Observer, a Winn-Dixie store in Lakeland closed last month, laying off 48 employees, and is expected to reopen under the Aldi name in four to six months.

Permits filed in Tampa and Fleming Island in Jacksonville indicate that Winn-Dixie conversions are being considered there as well. A permit process for a Harveys conversion is currently underway in North Jacksonville. GulfLive.com reported on plans for a Winn-Dixie conversion in Panama City Beach. The estimated project cost in each case is about $1.7 million.

The company, however, cautioned against reading too much into permits. It told the Bradenton Herald that building permits are “part of our planning process” and do not necessarily mean that a remodel of the stores is imminent. Employees at each store are informed before any changes begin and provided with “plans, options and resources,” Aldi said.

“We remain committed to hiring as many Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket employees as possible from the converted stores for ALDI,” the spokesman said, “and we have already seen strong interest from SEG managers and employees in open positions.”

In March, Aldi completed its purchase of Southeastern Grocers, which also owns Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket, and announced an ambitious, five-year, $9 billion plan to open 800 stores nationwide through new stores and store remodels. The company expects to remodel about 50 of its new stores by the end of the year, with most set to reopen in 2025.

Not all Winn-Dixies will become Aldis

“We intend to continue operating a significant portion of the Winn-Dixie and Harveys supermarkets under their current names,” Aldi said, reiterating what CEO Jason Hart said in a press release nearly a year ago.

Winn-Dixie employees at the Tallahassee store, who asked not to be identified, said the conversions are only happening in areas that don’t already have an Aldi. (The Winn-Dixie in Tallahassee will remain a Winn-Dixie, they said.)

Most of the new stores will likely be in the rest of the country, with nearly 330 planned in the Northeast and Midwest and additional stores in Southern California, Phoenix and Las Vegas, the release said. But the purchase of Southeastern Grocers gave the company a huge head start in the South, with about 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

“In the first half of 2024, ALDI opened and remodeled over 40 stores nationwide and expects to nearly double that number in the second half,” Aldi said, “bringing us closer to our goal of opening 800 stores nationwide over the next five years.” According to the company, customer traffic across the Southeast has increased by more than 20% since the acquisition, announced in 2023.

Will Winn-Dixie locations in Palm Beach County be converted to Aldi stores?

So far, there are no reports of any Winn-Dixie stores in Palm Beach County being in the process of converting to Aldi’s. The stores that have either begun converting or are in the approval process are in Bradenton, Deltona, Fleming Island, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Panama City and Tampa, according to reports from various news outlets. Aldi says approval does not mean a concrete conversion plan.

The Aldi spokesperson mentioned a location in Pensacola, but did not specify which one. There are three Winn-Dixie grocery stores in Pensacola and several more in the immediate area.

How many Winn-Dixie and Aldi stores are there in Palm Beach County?

According to Store Locator, Winn-Dixie has over 400 stores across Florida, including about 8 in Palm Beach County. There are no reports that any of these stores will be converted into Aldi stores. Currently, Aldi has 13 stores in the county.

What is Winn Dixie?

William Milton Davis and his sons opened several grocery stores in Miami in the 1920s and began buying up and taking over other stores. Over the next few decades, they acquired hundreds of other stores and chains, including the Winn & Lovett chain in the 1930s and the 117-store Dixie Home chain in the 1950s. They renamed themselves Winn-Dixie and spread throughout Florida and the South.

Winn-Dixie continued to expand until the company ran into financial difficulties that forced it to close 120 stores in 2004 and declare bankruptcy in 2005. In 2006, Winn-Dixie was purchased by Bi-Lo Holdings for $530 million. The new company became Southeastern Grocers, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018 to reorganize. The company also began a plan to modernize all of its locations. “Over 70% of Winn-Dixie locations have been renovated, with the remainder planned by 2024,” the Winn-Dixie website states.

In March 2024, Southeastern Grocers was acquired by Aldi.

Winn-Dixie Stores is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

What is Aldi?

Aldi is an international chain of grocery stores with no frills, no coupons, and few or no name-brand products. You pay 25 cents for a shopping cart (which you get back when you return it) and pack your groceries yourself, using empty boxes from the store, bags you bought there, or containers from home.

Its private label products come with a “twice is nice” money-back guarantee, and the chain regularly offers “FINDS,” limited-time deals that change weekly or seasonally, and other discount promotions. The company doesn’t offer a membership program, although in April of this year it jokingly announced a new, free, cardless, no-subscription program with 331.9 million members (equivalent to the population of the United States) to get the same low prices it already offers.

The Aldi chain was founded in 1946 by Karl and Theo Albrecht (Aldi is short for “Albrecht Diskont”). After the brothers got into a dispute over whether the stores should sell cigarettes, they split the company in 1960 into Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd, both of which operate internationally in different regions. U.S. stores, including the new Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores, are operated by Aldi Süd. Aldi Nord also owns Trader Joe’s.

Aldi US is based in Batavia, Illinois.

What is the difference between Winn-Dixie and Aldi?

Since the 1920s, Winn-Dixie has been known as “The Beef People,” although they have used several slogans in recent years, including “It’s a Winn Win!” since 2018.

Aldi does not have a meat counter.

There is also no deli, no pharmacy, no bakery and no liquor store. There are no elaborate displays, no music from above, a much smaller selection with few duplicate product brands, many private labels and shorter opening hours. The goal of all this is to keep prices low, the company says.

It remains to be seen what Aldi will do with the significantly larger space created by the two Winn-Dixie or Harveys stores at each location. According to the Jacksonville Daily Record, a permit currently under review for the conversion of a local Harveys store shows plans to convert a 4,300-square-foot space into a 2,000-square-foot Aldi store.

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