Winn-Dixie closing Columbus store, parent firm to cut 94 supermarkets in all
The parent company of Winn-Dixie will be closing one of its Columbus stores, and 94 locations altogether under the company’s three brands — the others BI-LO and Harveys — as its restructures under a bankruptcy filing.
The Winn-Dixie store at 5750 Milgen Road is the lone location out of the four supermarkets operated by the chain in the Columbus-Phenix City market having their doors shuttered. The local stores remaining open are at 6770 Veterans Parkway and 4231 Macon Road in Columbus, and at 3952 U.S. Hwy. 80 in the Ladonia area of Phenix City.
The Columbus store is among 19 Harveys, Winn-Dixie and BI-LO outlets being closed in Georgia, with the others in Adel, Cairo, Camilla, Cochran, Dawson, Dublin, Fort Valley, Leesburg, Macon (1605 Shurling Drive), Montezuma, Moultrie, Ocilla, Savannah, Sylvester, Thomasville, Valdosta (two locations) and Waycross.
In Alabama, all of the closures will be Winn-Dixie stores. Dothan is losing two, while the cities of Anniston, Birmingham, Daphne, Gulf Shores, Mobile, Monroeville, Montgomery and Robertsdale each will see one location go dark.
More: Here’s what could fill the vacant Toys R Us and other empty retail spaces in Columbus
“This course of action enables us to continue writing the story for our company and our iconic, heritage banners in the Southeast,” Anthony Hucker, president and chief executive officer of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Southeastern Grocers said in a statement.
The company said it made the decision to close the 94 “underperforming” supermarkets after reviewing options to cut its debt, calling the current move “critical to our future and the long-term health of our business.” After the current round of closures, Southeastern Grocers will operate 582 stores under its three brands.
“It is our goal to work through our financial restructuring as quickly and efficiently as possible, and we will emerge from this process likely within the next 90 days,” the firm said in a statement.
Columbus has already lost three Winn-Dixie supermarkets in recent years, one on South Lumpkin Road and another on Buena Vista Road in a now-dead shopping center that once was home to a smaller Walmart discount store as well. A Winn-Dixie also shut its doors on U.S. Hwy 280 in Phenix City several years ago after a Walmart Supercenter opened a short distance away.
The 5750 Milgen Road Winn-Dixie store dates to 1984, according to Muscogee County tax records. That’s when the 43,729-square-foot property was constructed near the corner of Milgen and Miller roads, just off an exit from Manchester Expressway.
The Columbus and Phenix City grocery store market has become hyper-competitive, with Publix, Piggly Wiggly and Winn-Dixie battling it out with Walmart’s large presence, which includes five supercenters and the addition of four Neighborhood Markets in recent years. There also are a handful of smaller budget chains, as well as the proliferation of Dollar General, which now offers food merchandise in its stores.
This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Winn-Dixie closing Columbus store, parent firm to cut 94 supermarkets in all."