Winn-Dixie
is cutting positions and closing 20 stores, including one on South Orange Blossom Trail.
Winn-Dixie and its sister supermarkets are closing 20 stores across the chain and cutting low-level management positions at supermarkets as well.
One store is closing in Orlando on South Orange Blossom Trail at the end of May. The company has also begun eliminating lower-level management positions in departments across its grocery store chain, which also includes brands such as Bi-Lo, Harvey’s and Fresco y Mas.
The closings are spread across the chain, with the biggest hit coming in South Carolina, where six Bi-Lo stores are closing.
Lead positions usually report to department managers and there are about five in each store. One employee who is losing her job said she is paid $12 an hour. She said laid-off employees are allowed to reapply with the company.
Winn-Dixie has been going through a flurry of strategic changes since changing leadership about two years ago. It has changed the name of its parent company from Bi-Lo to Southeastern Grocers, modified pricing strategies and introduced Fresco y Mas, targeting Hispanic consumers.
Winn-Dixie also has been closing pharmacies at many locations. It closed a handful of underperforming stores in recent years as it tries to readjust to a competitive market that includes intrusion from high-end and discounting grocery chains.
Winn-Dixie has faced tough competition from new grocery store entrants, while battling in an industry with razor-thin profit margins, said Steve Kirn, a business professor at the University of Florida who studies grocery stores and retail.
Not only are grocery prices falling, according to inflation-adjusted statistics, but there has been strong competition from discount-centric grocery stores.
“The middle is a tough place to be,” Kirn said. “Even people with a Mercedes and Lexus are crosscategory shopping and going to dollar stores for some food items.”
Winn-Dixie has 182 stores in the Central Florida region, stretching from Tampa to Orlando and Daytona, less than half the store count of Publix.
Winn-Dixie does have more stores than Wal-Mart, which has 172, but Wal-Mart still controls 30 percent of the market, according to grocery industry tracker Shelby Report, compared to WinnDixie’s 12.2 percent market share.