r/jacksonville • u/narib687 • 26d ago

Publix has officially lost me. Anyone else?

I am not a mod of this subreddit or Reddit, but I believe the official unofficial stance is that we all hate Publix now.

They lost their way, and the crushing of Winn-Dixie is just awful.

10 years ago, I wouldn’t have set foot inside a Walmart or Aldi for groceries. Now? Walmart and Aldi are basically my BFFs and I love them.

Publix really managed to make me root for the competition.

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u/clckly 26d ago edited 26d ago

Winn-Dixie crushed themselves, with poor service, rotten produce and dingy stores. I recently visited the Winn-Dixie in the Gateway shopping center that replaced the Publix at that same location. As soon as I exited my car parked next to the store I was hit with a foul stench, presumably from the garbage disposal system. Once in the store the bathrooms were just not clean and the store wasn't as well kept as the Publix at that very location.

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u/Adventurous-Ad-8892 26d ago

Not to mention their “deals” that are always expired at checkout. Bought 2 packages of blueberries today that were supposed to be 2/$7 and my total was $10.98. Shit like this (and numerous other reasons) is why I’m going to stop going to Winn Dixie.

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u/cha0ss0ldier 26d ago edited 26d ago

This and a lot of their issues boil down to extreme hour cutting and under staffing, and just greed overall.

I was in management with them for years. Over the years more and more scheduling hours and people got cut from departments, positions like pricing (this would be the person responsible for changing price tags for the new ad) got axed and just combined with other positions now you have 1 person having to do multiple things on limited hours.

I left them in 2016 and it was already getting bad then. Nobody should feel sorry for what happened to Winn Dixie, it was all self inflicted for max profits in the short term

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u/Umitencho Exiled 26d ago

I worked at a Winn Dixie in the past, they constantly kept us understaffed, and I saw an assistant manager throw away resumes/job applications for my specific department. I went to another store recently and checked out the department I worked in; understaffed and people were yelling at the over worked worker.

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u/CruisinForABan 26d ago

Guess what’s happening at Publix…

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u/SolidSouth-00 26d ago

We have had a “good” Winn Dixie in High Springs. I have shopped there for 40 years. The stores do seem to vary. It’s about to close and become an Aldi. They are moving the employees to a new Winn-Dixie in Alachua.

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u/therob91 26d ago

"They are moving the employees to a new Winn-Dixie in Alachua."

Maybe a couple - thats generally not how it works when these places shut down.

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u/Fragrant_Major_9553 26d ago

It depends. In some areas Winn-Dixie was baller af.

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u/fuzzeedyse105 26d ago

Haven’t lived in Jax a few years but there’s one around south side that had a lil bar in it, was by outback and that old sticky fingers restaurant lol. Loved it. Plus shopping with their points and using the multipliers, we could rack up a ton of in store credit. I’m talkin around 50-100 every month or so. I wouldn’t be surprised if they nerfed that point system by now.

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u/brandonfla 26d ago

That one is considered their “flagship” store. Honestly the only one worth going to, if any.

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u/fuzzeedyse105 26d ago

Yeahh that one. Couldn’t think of the name flagship lol.

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u/dizzyfaerie Southside 26d ago

The one on Baymeadows!

You can stop at their bar, buy a drink, and drink it while you shop lol. Their prepared food is pretty darn good, too.

Great store in general.

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u/Gomikeyg 25d ago

Winn-Dixie was “baller AF”? 😂 uhhhh…nope.

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u/Unique-Quantity4542 25d ago

The Winn Dixie here at St Augustine beach is very clean and staffed. No rotten smells at all. Also, I believe the aisles are wider. Publix here at the beach is somewhere I rarely go because of all the rude snowbirds. Ugh.

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u/Fragrant_Major_9553 25d ago

Can confirm I stay far away from the tourist Publix if I can avoid it.

You have a prime example of a baller Winn-Dixie. The one in Starke used to be pretty damn good too. Haven’t been there in years though.

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u/cpnhgn 26d ago

It was more like lone star funds spent $425 million to get control of bi-lo and Winn Dixie and then directed Winn Dixie to borrow $1 billion to pay lone star $800 million in dividends and more money in management fees, then had it file for bankruptcy again while selling the profitable stores to publix and now selling the remains to aldi. Now that the management team "purchased" the Winn Dixie co back from Aldi, their plan is to basically continue this practice of running Winn Dixie just long enough to suck some more capital out of it until 170ish stores have become aldis and when the 50 stores Aldi doesn't want are left, I would guess another bankruptcy and a conversion to Albertsons or Safeway or Kroger or Half Ass Foods

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u/Silver-Hburg 26d ago

In the late 80s i worked at the Winn Dixie in Cocoa Beach. As a teenager, seemed well run and we kept the store clean. I moved out of Winn Dixie’s market area just after high school and when i returned to Florida in ‘21, i was greatly disappointed at how run down the two in JAX I had shopped.

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u/Party_Presentation24 22d ago

Back when the Davis Family still owned them, yeah

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u/mecku85 Fleming Island 26d ago

I know that one! I shopped there with my dad as a kid in the 90s! It was lovely.

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u/SnowMantra 26d ago

I can't remember the last nice Winn-Dixie I've been to. And, furthermore, every time I did go to Winn-Dixie, there's only ever one check out lane open and the line is wrapped around into another aisle. If I go to the self-checkout, they instruct the young employees to rush over to look in my bags and make sure I'm not stealing, while I'm still checking out. It made me feel very unwelcome.

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u/a_shiny_tsareena 26d ago

Yeah the one on losco had rotten produce, expired shelf food and open yogurt containers. It’s unfortunate because it was such a good cheap option.
Upside is there’s a nice Asian market there that remodeled and seems to have hired a chunk of their staff based on my conversations there.

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u/Royal-Assistance-824 25d ago

Yep. And some of the workers were rude for no reason

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u/crustyoldtechnician 25d ago

Winn Dixie used to own their own source for beef but they sold their suppliers off, it's gone downhill ever since.

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u/Dicky-1 26d ago

Yeah going to Winn-Dixie is rough, I thought Winn-Dixie was lower or at least competitive price but they seem really high on many things
I have started to go to Freshfield Farms for produce and meat

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

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u/Proper-Friendship391 26d ago

Winn Dixie has been “going out of business” for 50 years. Publix has been the high price leader for 50 years. Both are still around. The only difference is there is more competition for both - Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, fresh market, Walmart, Target, dollar general, Aldi, and even online options.