Florida Winn-Dixie supermarkets are being converted to ALDIs Here's where in Lee County (2024)

Get your quarters ready. Your local Winn-Dixie might be hanging anAldi signsoon, following an acquisition by the Germany-based company.

In MarchAldi finalized the purchase of Southeastern Grocers, which includes Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket, and announced an ambitious 5-year, $9 billion planto add 800 stores nationwidethrough new stores and store conversions. The company expects to convert about 50 of its new stores by the end of the year, with most reopening in 2025.

Which ones? Aldi doesn't share their plans, but some news has trickled out.

"We have officially kicked off the conversion process for the first several stores, including stores in Panama City, Deltona, Pensacola, and Lakeland, Florida," an Aldi spokesperson said in August by email. Signs went up recently attwo Brevard County Winn-Dixie locationsletting customers know conversions will be coming.

The newly converted stores will be smaller — Aldi grocery stores are generally abouthalf the size of the average Winn-Dixieor Publix supermarket — and stocked with "only the items customers need" for "a quick, easy shopping experience with great products at the lowest possible prices," Aldi said.

Gulflive.com,My Florida Retailand plenty of local media (includingsites in the USA TODAY NETWORK) have been speculating, compiling lists of both confirmed conversions and potential locations wherepermitshaveapparentlybeenpulledor where people have shared information on social media. However, thecompany has warned about reading too much into permitsand has not confirmed many of the locations.

Which Lee County, FL Winn-Dixie stores converting to Aldi

So far, these locations have either started conversions or are suspected to begin, based on various news outlets' reports, permits, social media posts and signs spotted at some locations. Few of them have been confirmed by Aldi and this should not be considered an official list.

Winn-Dixie locations in Lee County that may be converting:

• Lehigh Acres:61 Bell Blvd N

• North Fort Myers:5660 Bayshore Rd

Other conversion stores in Florida:

• Aventura:Promenade Shoppes, 20417 Biscayne Blvd

• Arcadia:1737 E Oak St

• Apollo Beach:252 Harbor Village Ln

• Avon Park:Avon Park Shopping Center, 802 US Highway 27 S

• Boynton Beach:Cobblestone Commons, 8855 Boynton Beach Blvd

• Bradenton:5805 Manatee Ave

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• Bushnell:The Walker Ridge Square, 1122 N Main St

• Crawfordville:2629 Crawfordville Hwy

• Crystal River:1651 SE Hwy 19

• Deltona:2880 Howland Blvd

• Englewood:4100 McCall Rd

• Fleming Island:Eagle Harbor, 1545 County Road 220

• Fort Lauderdale:Southland Plaza, 941 SW 24th St

• Fort Walton Beach:Oak Monte Shopping Center, 798 Beal Pkwy

• Gainesville:300 SW 16th Ave

• Hobe Sound:The Marketplace, 8867 SE Bridge Rd (Aldi says this will continue as a Winn-Dixie as they finalize conversion plans across the company)

• Homosassa:Homosassa Regional Shopping Center, 3792 S. Suncoast Blvd

• Jacksonville:Fort Caroline Trading Post, 6060-10 Fort Caroline Road

• Jensen Beach:Palm Breeze Plaza, 1105 NE Jensen Beach Blvd(confirmed by Aldi)

• Lakeland:

  • Imperial Christina Plaza, 6902 S Florida Ave

  • Lakeland Highland Plaza, 2900 Lakeland Highlands Rd

• Lake Wales:Lake Wales Shopping Center, 1860 State Route 60 East

• Lithia:16751 Fishhawk Blvd

• Lutz:Sunset Plaza, 18407 US Highway 41

• Melbourne: The Ocean Springs Shopping Village, 961 E Eau Gallie Blvd

• New Port Richey:

  • New Port Richey Market Place, 12120 Moon Lake Rd

  • 6400 Massachusetts Ave

• Ocala:Marion Oaks Shopping Center, 184 Marion Oaks Blvd

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• Odessa:17649 Gunn Hwy

• Orlando:Metro West Marketplace, 1401 S Hiawassee Rd

• Ormond Beach:Ormond Beach Shopping Center, 353 West Granada Blvd

• Palm Harbor:1360 Tampa Rd

• Panama City: Palm Court, 3157 W 23rd St

• Panama City Beach:Panama Plaza, 23200 Front Beach Rd

• Pensacola:Nine Mile Plaza, 312 E Nine Mile Rd

• Port Charlotte:Kings Crossing Shopping Center, 2000 Kings Highway

• Port St. John: Port St. John Plaza, 6257 US Hwy 1

• Quincy:Quincy Plaza, 1632 W Jefferson St

• Sarasota:4230 Bee Ridge Rd

• Sebastian:995 Sebastian Blvd(confirmed by Aldi)

• St. Cloud: Canoe Creek Plaza, 3318 Canoe Creek Rd

• St. Petersburg:3327 9th St N

• Tampa:6425 County Line Rd:

• The Villages:Lake Sumter Landing, 820 Old Camp Rd

• Westlake:Grove Market, 5060 Seminole Pratt Whitney Rd

Harveys:

• Jacksonville:Edgewood Square Shopping Center, 2261 W Edgewood Ave

Not all Winn-Dixies will become Aldi stores

"We intend that a meaningful amount of Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets will continue to operate under their current banners," Aldi said, mirroring what CEO Jason Hart said in a release nearly a year ago.

Winn-Dixie employees in the Tallahassee store who asked not to be named have said thatconversions are only for those areas without an existing Aldi. (The Tallahassee Winn-Dixie is staying a Winn-Dixie, they said.)

Most of the new store locations are likely to be in the rest of the country, with nearly 330 planned for the Northeast and Midwest and more stores in Southern California, Phoenix and Las Vegas, the release said. But buying Southeastern Grocers gave them a huge jump in the South with about 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.Related image (ID: 8357084001)

What is Winn-Dixie?

William Milton Davis and his sons opened several grocery stores in Miami in the 1920s and began buying and absorbing 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 rebranded as Winn-Dixie and became widespread all over Florida and the South.

Winn-Dixie kept expanding until the company ran into financial problems that forced it to close 120 stores in 2004 and file for bankruptcy in 2005. In 2006, Winn-Dixie was bought 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 embarked on a plan to upgrade all of its locations. "Over 70% of Winn-Dixie locations have been refreshed, with the rest on the way by 2024," the Winn-Dixie website says.

In March of 2024, Southeastern Grocers was acquired by Aldi.

Winn-Dixie Stores is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

What is Aldi?

Aldiis an international chain of no-frills grocery stores with no coupons and few if any big-name brand products. You pay a quarter to get a shopping cart (you get it back when you return it) and you bag your own groceries with empty boxes from the store, bags you bought there or containers from home.

There is a double-your-money-back "Twice is Nice" guarantee on its store brand products and the chain regularly offers"FINDS,"limited-time offers that change weekly or seasonally and other discounted deals. The company does not offer a membership program, although this April as a joke they announceda new, free, no-subscription, cardless programwith 331.9 million members (i.e. the population of the United States) to get the same low prices they offer anyway.

The Aldi chain was founded by Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946 (Aldi is an abbreviated form of "Albrecht Diskont"). After the brothers got into an argument over whether the stores should sell cigarettes, in 1960 they split the company into Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd, which both operate stores 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 U.S. is based in Batavia, Illinois.

What's different between Winn-Dixie and Aldi?

Since the 1920s, Winn-Dixie has been known as "The Beef People," although they have used multiple slogans in recent years with "It's a Winn Win! since 2018.

Aldi does not offer a meat counter.

Winn-Dixe vs. Aldi:Some Florida Winn-Dixie stores are converting to Aldi stores. 10 ways they'll be different

Nor does it have a deli, a pharmacy or a bakery, or a liquor store. There are no elaborate displays, no overhead music, a much smaller selection with few duplicates of item brands, lots of house brands, and fewer open hours. The goal of all of these is to keep prices low, the company says.

It remains to be seen what Aldi will do with the substantially larger space that will come with a Winn-Dixie or a Harveys store at each location. According to theJacksonville Daily Record, a permit under review for a local Harveys conversion shows plans to convert a 46,189-square-foot space into a 21,839-square-foot Aldi store.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Aldi converting these Lehigh, North Fort Myers FL Winn-Dixie stores