Dive Brief:
- Rouses Markets has agreed to acquire 10 Winn-Dixie locations from Southeastern Grocers, the Mississippi-based food retailer announced in a Monday social media post.
- The deal, which will increase Rouses’ footprint by 15%, includes nine stores in Louisiana and one in Mississippi.
- The transaction continues a drive by Southeastern Grocers to cull the size of the Winn-Dixie chain.
Dive Insight:
The Winn-Dixie locations included in the sale are in New Orleans, Marrero, Destrehan, Kenner, Covington, Mandeville, Franklinton, Gramercy and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Rouses’ arrangement to buy the stores, set to be completed in early 2026, will bring its fleet along the Gulf Coast to 76 locations.
All of the stores will transition to the Rouses Market banner and will feature core Rouses products, including Gulf seafood and Cajun items, New Orleans TV station WVUE reported. All of the stores are set to be remodeled in the coming years and will remain in service throughout the conversion process, the news outlet reported.
“These Winn-Dixie stores have served their neighborhoods for many years, and we’re proud to welcome them, their team members, and their customers into the Rouses Markets family,” Rouses owner Ali Rouse Royster wrote on LinkedIn.
Southeastern Grocers has been reducing its presence outside Florida as part of an effort to focus on the state, its core market. Formerly owned by Aldi, the company said in October that it intends to rebrand as The Winn-Dixie Company.
Southeastern Grocers’ decision to unload the stores follows announcements in October that it intended to sell three Winn-Dixie locations in Alabama to regional grocer Food City and divest two stores in Baton Rouge to Brookshire’s Super 1 Foods banner.
