i guess i'm as guilty as the next person (and i even used to work there). i took advantage of "spot buying" all the big discounts and then going to another store to buy the rest (in central florida that's publix). now 156 closed stores and 10,000 job cuts later, it looks like winn dixie is not going to be around much longer. what a tradition lost.....50 years in business down the drain.....and you know why they can't win this battle? 85 percent of all winn dixie stores are located within 10 miles of a wal-mart who is now, i believe, the largest dollar volume seller of food in the u.s. (how coincidental).
Winn Dixie's problem is that they try to bring you in with cheap groceries and then make their profit by jacking up beef prices. I can get a good top sirloin at Piggly Wiggly for $4.99 a pound while next door at "The Beef People" it sells for $7.99. Frankly, I don't see any big savings from grocery shopping at the Wal Mart Superstores. In Lafayette, if I'm "making groceries" (as they say in LaRose, Cut-Off, Golden Meadow) I get the dry goods at Wal Mart, drive to Guidry's Produce (Farmers Market type) for produce and Pig on Moss for the meat.
I worked at Winn Dixie while in high school and hated my boss...I hope he's the first one who gets the axe.
article in the WSJ a few months ago discussed the antiquated distribution system used by WD relative to that of new retailers like Publix, Kroger, and Walmart. Inventory carrying costs were killing WD the old fashioned way - one penny at a time.
