Two Lakeland Harveys to become Winn-Dixie stores

The Winn-Dixie Co. is turning seven of its Harveys Supermarket locations in Florida and Georgia into Winn-Dixie stores. Two are in Lakeland.

The Jacksonville grocer announced the conversions Monday, saying they are part of a larger effort to bring its stores under a singular banner as it undergoes a “broader brand transformation.”

Anthony Hucker, the chairman and CEO of The Winn-Dixie Co., says in a statement that bringing Harveys under the Winn-Dixie banner “allows us to build on that shared legacy while continuing to invest in our stores, our associates and the quality, value and fresh offerings our customers count on.”

The two local stores are at 2630 US Highway 92 and at 1305 Ariana St. W. The others include two in Jacksonville and one each in Lake City, Ocala and Folkston, Georgia.

The rebranded stores, the company says, will get a new look “designed to feel more modern, confident and connected to the way families shop today.” Current Harveys shopper will be able to transfer their rewards points. The goal, the company says, is a seamless transition.

The Winn-Dixie Co. operated as Southeastern Grocers until the beginning of this year, when it officially changed its name.

The changeover was announced in October and the company said at the time it would focus on its Florida and Georgia markets. As part of that process, it sold 32 Winn-Dixie stores and eight Harveys Supermarkets, in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

It had sold about 400 of its Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores to Aldi in 2023.

A company spokesperson did not respond to questions about how many Harveys stores will remain after the transformations and how many total stores the company currently owned. According the changeover statement, the rebranded company would operate 130 grocery stores and 140 freestanding and grocery-adjacent liquor stores.

Winn-Dixie traces its roots back to the 1920s, when the Davis family opened a store in Miami and began expanding with other stores, according to a 2023 story in the Jacksonville Daily Record, sister paper of the Business Observer.

The company established its headquarters in Jacksonville in 1944 and after a series of transactions, was named Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. in 1955.

Winn-Dixie struggled in the early 2000s and went through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2005 and 2006.

Then in 2012 it merged with Bi-Lo Holdings to form Southeastern Grocers.

Southeastern went through a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2018, with a group of investment funds taking control of the company.

The company filed plans for an initial public offering in 2020 but pulled the IPO off the market in January 2021, and it had been the subject of buyout rumors since that time, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported.