JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Q. Jacksonville Today reader Jennifer E. has a few questions about the state of her local grocery stores.
German grocery store company Aldi bought Winn-Dixie and Harveys grocery stores last year from Southeastern Grocers, the parent company based in Jacksonville. Jennifer wants to know the latest about the company’s plan to turn some of those stores into Aldi stores.
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“Last we heard, they might convert some Winn-Dixie stores to the Aldi format, but they weren’t saying which ones or when.”
Jennifer also hopes for an update on planned renovations at her neighborhood Publix on Anastasia Island.
A. Aldi completed its acquisition of Southeastern Grocers earlier this year as part of a five-year, $9 billion plan to expand Aldi’s nationwide footprint. At the time, Aldi announced that it planned to convert some Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores into Aldi stores, but so far, none locally have made the change.
A spokesperson for Aldi confirms to Jacksonville Today that the company is still on track to begin converting some stores this summer, though the stores have not been publicly identified.
As The Jacksonville Daily Record reported recently, the Harveys supermarket at 2261 Edgewood Ave. West may be the first in the Jacksonville area. As of earlier this month, the city of Jacksonville had received construction plans for a significant remodel of the Harveys building into an Aldi.
If all goes according to plan, Aldi says, supermarkets converting into Aldi grocery stores are expected to reopen in 2025.
“This summer we began a phased approach to the store conversion process,” a spokesperson says. “We anticipate that approximately 50 stores will begin the conversion process during the latter half of 2024, with the majority of these stores reopening as Aldi in 2025.”
Many won’t change, though. The spokesperson says “a meaningful amount” of Winn-Dixie and Harveys grocery stores will remain as is.
Meredith Hurley, Southeastern Grocers’ senior director of communications and community, does confirm that Winn-Dixie stores in the St. Augustine area — including the Anastasia Island store on State Road A1A South — will “continue normal business operations” for now.
That’s good news, because the Publix store on Anastasia Island is expected to close sometime this year for expansion.
The St. Augustine Beach City Commission approved construction plans last October to replace the existing Publix with a new, larger building. That project was supposed to begin around the start of July, but it hasn’t begun yet.
A spokesperson for property owner Regency Centers told Jacksonville Today that the plan is in the early stages of development, but that they “cannot share timelines or additional details regarding Publix.”
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