The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.
The Winn-Dixie Company has unveiled its glow-up — and Florida grocers better watch out.
“We’ve been around a minute — a hundred years to be exact,” starts a video unveiling the company’s new look. “Yeah, we’ve had some ups and downs. But now we’re in charge of our own destiny — so it’s time for a glow-up.”
While the company could have kept its announcement future-focused, it decided to own up to some of its rocky history to show it’s focused on stability going forward. Southeastern Grocers, as the company was known until this month, emerged from bankruptcy in 2018 and said it would go public at the start of 2021 — but pulled the plug on its IPO plans before the year ended.
Following its divestiture of stores outside Florida, Southeastern-Grocers-turned-The Winn-Dixie-Company wants shoppers to know that its destiny is in good hands as it focuses on jazzing up its presence in the Sunshine State.
Its new visual identity has a “cleaned-up logo,” a refreshed color palette with veggie-inspired colors, new fonts and a marketing tone that’s a “little sweet, a little sassy and 100% real,” according to the video. Meanwhile, the shopping experience is getting upgrades such as fresher produce, better meat cuts and updated stores.
While makeovers aren’t a guarantee for success — we still remember the cringey “Like, A Lot A Lot” jingle that Save A Lot unveiled in 2021 — this rebranding could be exactly what Winn-Dixie needs to stand out amid the ultra-competitive Florida grocery market, which includes fan-favorite Publix and rapidly expanding discounter Aldi.
In case you missed it
KeHE launches a new brand with an old name
The natural and organic food distributor has rolled out a new CPG brand that reflects what it described as a commitment to “more sustainable and responsible food production.” The new brand sports the name of former natural foods retailer Wild Oats, which became part of Whole Foods Market in 2007.
Wild Oats “aims to ‘unsus’ the system via radical transparency, calling out what’s wrong in our food system, highlighting what’s right and constantly pursuing better food, better conditions for animals, and better lives for farmers,” KeHE said in a Tuesday statement about the brand.
Amazon gets a green light for its big box store
Village leaders in Orland Park, Illinois, voted Monday to approve the retailer’s proposal to develop an approximately 230,000-square-foot store in the suburban Chicago community. The municipality is not providing financial incentives to Amazon for the store, which will offer groceries and general merchandise and is larger than the average Walmart supercenter. The Orland Park Village Board noted in a press release that the permit it granted to Amazon specifically prohibits its use as a warehouse or distribution center.
UNFI expands private brand portfolio
The grocery distributor said Wednesday that it plans to launch almost 50 private label products at its spring and summer selling shows in Long Beach, California, and Orlando, Florida. United Natural Foods, Inc. said upcoming additions to its private label portfolio will reflect increased shopper demand for wellness-focused foods, value-priced meals and protein-rich snacks. All of the new products are “designed to align with emerging shopper preferences and behaviors,” according to the company.
Impulse find
Centenarian marks milestone birthday at a grocery store
People who make it to age 100 are part of a rare breed, but one person in suburban Washington, D.C., recently chose to join that select group at a place familiar to everyone: a supermarket.
The birthday boy, described as a longtime Giant Food customer, got a celebration fit for a king at a location the chain runs in Rockville, Maryland. He sat in a chair wearing a crown as store employees and shoppers feted him and reminisced about the “years of memories created within the store’s walls,” according to a TikTok video documenting the occasion.
@seanmartinelli HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID! #maryland #rockville #giant #hopecore #viral ♬ original sound - seanmartinelli
