A new Winn-Dixie? Inside the new Baymeadows store
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/4726379479_dt6wSsh-L.jpg)
Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2016-feb-a-new-winn-dixie-inside-the-new-baymeadows-store
Went there a few weeks ago, it felt like an upscale Costco with twice the shoppers and half the space. I promptly left.
I have not been but I know people who have and all reviews have been great... Now if they can bring cleanliness and customer service up to required levels they may finally be on to something...
Looks real nice. I always thought they should make WD a bit more upscale to compete with Publix, and keep SAV a lot as the bargain brand.
If they do this to my local WD, I'll be stopping in.
Looks like high labor costs and high shrink. Hopefully sales volumes stay at a high enough level to support the added staff. I've seen stores with empty cheese shops and unattended deli's because store sales couldn't support the labor. I think the bigger issue is improving brand image through consistently clean and well stocked stores, not these one off nice stores.
Quote from: Murder_me_Rachel on February 18, 2016, 10:09:45 AM
Yeah, sorry, WD. Just don't want to shop at your stores. Make it as nice as you want, your reputation is too ingrained to change.
I don't think that's accurate. It's like saying Riverside has too much crime for me to want to raise a family (Which was said in the 1970's). It might take a long time (WD didn't go south overnight), but if they actually put resources behind it, WD can get back on top.
Ah yeah, the new Winn Dixie, inside the old Winn Dixie. It looks cool. I'm kind of surprised they aren't rebranding/spinning off a brand.
Cleanliness and customer service. + x10000000
The last time I went to one of their last remodeled stores, the employee's looked and acted like some of those funny 'Wal-Mart' shoppers Facebook posts. Loud, inconsiderate slobs. A cashier on a cell phone obviously more interested in the conversation then the line at the counter.
I hope this works out because they REALLY have their work cut out for them.
I have never understood the W-D bashing and love of Publix. I do my shopping at the W-D on Roosevelt and always have a great experience. The store is clean the employees are very friendly and i can always find what I am looking for. The Publix on Roosevelt is a nightmare to get into (and out of), the store is clean and the employees are friendly.
I have taste tested everything from fried chicken to pies to donuts, and honestly W-D is as good if not better in all of them, So maybe I am missing something, or shopping wrong, but Publix is more expensive, but not a better experience for groceries for me.
I believe the WD at University/San Jose is an upgraded version as well. Maybe only partially upgraded, but the new carts are pretty sweet. We still spend most of our grocery dollars at Publix (Actually, Fresh Market, then Publix, then Grassroots) though.
Quote from: Ocklawaha on February 18, 2016, 11:42:29 AM
Cleanliness and customer service. + x10000000
The last time I went to one of their last remodeled stores, the employee's looked and acted like some of those funny 'Wal-Mart' shoppers Facebook posts. Loud, inconsiderate slobs. A cashier on a cell phone obviously more interested in the conversation then the line at the counter.
I hope this works out because they REALLY have their work cut out for them.
Cleanliness and customer service? These things were on point during my recent visit.
This store is beautiful and when I went a few nights ago, the employees were friendly and helpful. However - half of them were corporate office employees helping the new store thru its opening phase. It remains to be seen if they can keep up the level of service.
The "luxury" items - coffee and gelato bar, cheese counter, specialty meats - were all like something out of a Whole Foods. Very classy. And beautiful! It puts the other upgraded Winn Dixie I'm familiar with - at University and San Jose - to shame. But it's clearly a concept store and not something they could implement at every Winn Dixie. Frankly at some of the Winn Dixies in town, a good cleaning and a change in management would make a world of difference.
Unfortunately the store is so far out of my way - and Publix and Rowe's are both within 5 minutes of my house - that there's no way I'll be shopping there. But I wish them well and I hope they can apply some of the concepts to their neighborhood stores.
The other thing is not every market can sustain some of the higher end items. One of the things that I question is the name - to a point I made earlier, the Winn-Dixie name didn't go south overnight, so changing it's reputation is not going to happen overnight either.
Would it have been a better move to market this store under a different brand?
Quote from: Murder_me_Rachel on February 18, 2016, 02:24:58 PM
That's funny (and I genuinely mean that, not sarcastic). I would say the exact same thing, but swicth WD and Publix. I find that store very easily accessible and not at all a nightmare. The WD, as with most of them, I found had a off smell and just felt gross and dirty to me. To each his own I guess ;)
The Publix on Roosevelt is a logjam on weekends—I'm constantly having to stop short or veer quickly as I try to dodge little old ladies who suddenly halt in the middle of the aisle or turn their cart around in a crowded space without any regard to the people around them. You can experience that at any supermarket, of course; but as busy as that store gets on Saturday and Sunday mornings it feels so much worse than anywhere else. I'd never go there if the Five Points location's selection wasn't so pitiful in comparison.
Still, I'll always take Publix over Winn-Dixie. I recall going to the W-D in Baymeadows once—the one near Southside Blvd, not this newly-remodeled one—and seeing two cashiers having a very loud argument with one another. I could still hear them as I made my way throughout the store. (It had stopped by the time I was ready to check out; whether on its own or through managerial intervention, I don't know. Probably the former.)
oh man... would have loved to check this store out.. just bought all my groceries yesterday from a westside Winn Dixie.. and I was looking for good cheese and wine...wish I had known... next time :-\
Being very much a 'Southern Tradition' perhaps if the store is really that much better the addition of a simple '+' to the name would identify it at once as the store you grew up with and the additional new store you desire?