Winn-Dixie parent buys unconverted stores back from Aldi. How many in Florida got converted?
- Aldi sold the Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket brands to a consortium of investors, but will continue plans to convert some locations to Aldi stores.
- Southeastern Grocers, under the new ownership of the consortium, will continue to operate the remaining Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores.
- Aldi, which acquired Winn-Dixie in March 2024, plans to focus on expanding its own brand with new stores and conversions of existing Winn-Dixie and Harveys locations.
Well, that didn't last long. Put your quarters away.
Less than a year after German discount grocery chain Aldi acquired Southeastern Grocers Inc, the parent company of Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets, and announced an ambitious 5-year, $9 billion plan to add 800 stores nationwide through new stores and store conversions, they sold them again.
A consortium of private investors, led by the current CEO and President of Southeastern Grocers Anthony Hucker and C&S Wholesale Grocers, a wholesale supplier that served Winn-Dixie, announced Friday they had acquired the company Aldi bought in March 2024, minus the stores Aldi has already converted or are in the process of converting.
Hucker will serve as chair, CEO and president of the new company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are profoundly grateful and deeply honored to continue serving the communities we cherish," Hucker said in the release. "Our culture and path forward are firmly grounded in our 100-year legacy—a legacy built on strong values and a shared purpose of caring for one another."
Here's what to know.
How many Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket locations did Aldi sell?
The purchase includes about 170 grocery stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, as well as the existing Winn-Dixie liquor store business that Aldi left alone.
How many Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket locations did Aldi convert?
Aldi plans to finish converting the locations they have already started. About 220 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket will be converted to the Aldi format by 2027. Southeastern Grocers will continue to operate the stores identified for conversation and has promised to work to assure "a smooth conversion."
Why is Aldi selling the Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores?
Aldi said the transaction "allows Aldi to focus on converting stores to the Aldi brand, while it "progresses its expansion plans across the country."
Aldi is a German company, with its U.S. division based in Illinois. Last year Aldi opened nearly 120 stores in the U.S. to bring its total count to more than 2,400.
What is C&S Wholesale Grocers?
C&S Wholesale Grocers was founded in 1918 as a supplier to independent grocery stores, New Hampshire-based C&S now services customers of all sizes, supplying more than 7,500 independent supermarkets, chain stores, military bases and institutions with over 100,000 products. Winn-Dixie is one of its customers.
How many Florida Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets locations have been converted to Aldi stores?
Aldi announced five new locations that just opened or are opening soon:
- Lakeland: 6902 Florida Avenue South
- Panama City: 3157 West 23rd Street
- Panama City Beach: 23200 Front Beach Road
- Port St. Lucie: 10300 Southwest Discovery Way
- Pensacola: 312 East 9 Mile Road
How many Florida Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets locations are still in the process of being converted to Aldi stores?
There are several in progress, such as locations in Brevard County. Lake County, Sebastian, Ormond Beach and Deltona.
Online sleuths have identified nearly 50 Winn-Dixie Florida locations that were likely to become Aldis, but Aldi has not released a list of how many conversions are still planned across the state.
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. In February 2025, a consortium of private investors, led by Southeastern Grocers Inc and its wholesale provider, cut a deal to reacquire the stores that had not been chosen for Aldi conversions.
Winn-Dixie Stores is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
What is Aldi?
Aldi is 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 announced a new, free, no-subscription, cardless program with 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.
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.
Contributing: Dave Berman, Florida Today