Dive Brief:
- Food Lion announced Friday plans to acquire five Winn-Dixie stores and reopen the locations in December.
- Winn-Dixie confirmed in a separate press release that this acquisition marks its exit from Georgia.
- This marks the latest store divestiture move from Winn-Dixie as the company focuses on establishing its Florida footprint.
Dive Insight:
For the past couple of years, Winn-Dixie has gone through a slew of ownership changes and divestiture deals.
In early 2025, C&S Wholesale Grocers, along with a consortium of private investors, acquired Southeastern Grocers from Aldi. Nearly a year later, the group rebranded Southeastern Grocers as The Winn-Dixie Company in January. In August, C&S proposed a transaction to become the majority owner of The Winn-Dixie Company.
Amid these ownership changes, Winn-Dixie shifted its attention to its Florida roots by divesting stores in surrounding states like Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia.
When announcing the rebrand plans last October, Winn-Dixie said it would remain in southern Georgia with stores in Brunswick, Folkston, Lake Park, St. Simons Island and Valdosta. Now, three months later, the company is selling locations in these five cities to Food Lion. Now, the company is exiting Georgia to focus on juicing growth in Florida.
“For more than 100 years, Florida has been our home. … This strategic decision allows us to build on that momentum and direct more resources toward expanding and strengthening our presence across Florida,” Raymond Rhee, president and CEO of The Winn-Dixie Company, said in a statement.
Food Lion plans to hire roughly 375 associates for these five upcoming locations. The stores will remain open as Winn-Dixie storefronts until the transaction is complete. Food Lion will then convert and reopen the stores in mid-December.
For Food Lion, this deal brings the banner’s footprint to 51 locations in The Peach State and exceeds its new store opening goal for 2026. The grocer aimed to open 10 new stores by the end of this year, and this acquisition puts the company on track to open 15 new locations before 2026’s close.
Update: This story was updated with information from Winn-Dixie about its store sales in Georgia.
