Posted on 02/22/2005 7:06:58 AM PST by Rebelbase
But grocery chain says stores will remain open, financing is lined up and employees will get paid.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection, due to stiff competition and the need to restructure to stem widening losses.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Here's the AP version of the article to avoid excerpting:
ACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Supermarket giant Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. said Tuesday it has filed for bankruptcy reorganization, less than two weeks after reporting decreased revenues and increased losses from a year ago.
Winn-Dixie and 23 of its U.S. subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 reorganization late Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, a company news release said.
The Jacksonville-based company also announced Tuesday that it has secured an $800 million credit facility from Wachovia Bank N.A. to help pay for its reorganization, the release said. The credit facility, subject to court approval, replaces the company's previous $600 million credit line.
The company plans to use the reorganization to improve its operations and financial performance, but also to reduce its expenses and decide how to use its assets to make its stores more productive, the release said.
"This includes achieving significant cost reductions, improving the merchandising and customer service in all locations and generating a sense of excitement in the stores," said Peter Lynch, president and chief executive officer.
The company said 920 Winn-Dixie stores in eight southeastern states and the Bahamas are open.
But Winn-Dixie said it will seek court approval to terminate the leases of two warehouses and about 150 stores that were closed previously, for an annual cash savings of approximately $60 million. It also plans to sell all of its remaining manufacturing operations to reduce expenses, the release said.
For the first six months of this fiscal year, Winn-Dixie reported sales of $5.41 billion on a net loss of $552.8 million or $3.93 per share, compared with sales of $5.65 billion on a net loss of $78.3 million or 56 cents per share, for the same period in 2004
'Bankruptcy' is spelled for you in the article. The least you could do is get it right in your topic...
I've shopped at a couple here. One was terrible, one was not bad, but still didn't have much selection.
I take it the royalties from using their name for the title of "Because of Winn-Dixie" won't be enough to save them.
Geez, did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?
Our local Winn Dixie has been going downhill for years… even remodeling hasn't helped. It was a sorry excuse of a grocery store even before the Super Wal-Mart came to town. Poor management is the root cause.
Have you noticed you have no vowells in your name??
Is "Piggly Wiggly" still in business?
I really don't care because I'm not being paid for this. If you don't like it read another article.
Geez, chill. :P
You've never accidentally skipped a letter before, Herr xrp? :P
Owl_Eagle
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"
We all have our pet peeves. Mine is the use of more periods than one at the end of a sentence.
Winn-Dixie closed one week, another chain went in and is doing excellent business. The new chain hired people with brains and some social aptitude. Now the cashiers actually say hello and do not stare off into space as if you were bothering them.
You should visit their corporate HQ -- it is as dirty and shabby as any of their stores. The founders like it that way because it conveys the "low overhead/low prices" message.
The Winn dixies around me have been horrible, slow service, bad prices compared to Publix and Albertsons much less Walmart.
Good riddance. To them, their denigrating attitude toward their customers, their "Old South" mindset (not the nice Old South, the racist one), their price gouging of the poorer neighborhoods, their employment policies, their stupid "in-store specials" that allow them to charge exhorbitant prices to anyone who hasn't yielded up their name and address to their database, and their incredibly lame store managers.
Note to Publix: former managers from Winn-Dixie have a tendancy to turn your perfectly fine stores into a Winn-Dixie clone. They cannot be retrained, so hire from within.
And WD was NEVER the low cost store.
There's still a Piggly Wiggly in Columbiana, AL.
Here in northern California, all the grocery chains have been upgrading like mad in the last 15 years, mostly to keep attracting customers and also because of recent threats like the employee-owned WinCo grocery superstores, the rise of membership warehouses and the coming of the Wal-Mart Supercenters.
Methinks the "low quality" message is the one that's getting through to the consumer. ;)
I see a Piggly Wiggly on my way to the beach. None in my area though.
Our local WD in my small SC town closed down just last week. The Super Walmart food department was the last blow they could take. WD built a brand new store here about 6 years ago and put the bakery on one end of the store and the deli way over the other side. So, to make a quick stop and buy some take out and a baked dessert, you had to traverse the whole bldg. Another time I went in and picked up an apple pie on the bakery counter, and the whole counter was loaded with fire ants. Yuck...
A friend of mine at work likes to say they have changed their slogan to be "Winn Dixie - The Chicken People" from "Winn Dixie - The Beef People" because their beef selection has been so bad for so long now.
They used to be good at what they did. But, times have changed them.
Are there still any A&Ps?
Are there still any A&Ps?
I hate it when I repeat myself, myself.
The last time I shopped there, I had to use a gallon of bug spray to get rid of all the ants I brought home that were infesting their boxed goods. Microwave popcorn, breakfast cereaL,poptarts (i have kids),etc, were all loaded with bugs.
Someone who wants some cheap big-box real estate?
Piggly Wiggly locations
http://www.pigglywiggly.com/cgi-bin/customize?storelocations.html
Our local Food World is at least clean and has great produce. We buy our beef, pork, chicken and seafood at a Winn Dixie about 25 miles away. Better selection, cleaner, friendlier. I've always preferred WD's meats. I skip right by Wal-Mart's meat section except for bacon and sausage.
I thought A&P bit the dust years ago but here is their website:
http://www.apsupermarket.com/index.asp
how long's it going to be before one of the big 3 supermarkets goes bankrupt or merges with another?
my understanding is the management of safeway, albertsons, and kroger's hate each other's guts, so a merger might be far off.
but wal-mart's killing them.
there's also the increased marketing of foods in wal-green's, convenience stores, etc., that reduce the footprint of the big 3.
albertson's bit off more than they can chew in buying lucky's. they erred greatly by changing the name of lucky's. lucky's was associated with stephanie edwards, the woman who announces the new year's parade in pasadena. when stephanie yelled for lucky's, suie, suie, the women came running with their shopping carts.
the lucky's name and stephanie's persona must have been worth $500 million. but albertson's in one big ego trip destroyed it.
safeway and kroger when they take over, they let the local name remain.
For my money, when I'm in Fla, it's always Publix.
It's bright, clean, and the quality is excellent..
I was shocked in 2002 when I went back to Florida and the buildings no longer had that in big letters.
agreed. Publix is the best store around here imo.
They merged with Hinky-Dinky.
Winn-Dixie's prices are much higher than Food Lions. It is not hard for them to lose to Food Lion.
Oh...
:o)
"there's also the increased marketing of foods in wal-green's, convenience stores, etc., that reduce the footprint of the big 3."
It takes me 1/3 of the time to buy a couple of basic items at the local drug store than to drive across the street, park and walk to the back of the grocery store, get the milk or bread and then wait for check out.
Where I live there is a WalMart SuperCenter 15 min. away, WD is 1 min., but a Supercenter will be opening soon less than 5 min away. It's going to be a tough job for WD to pull out of the hole IMO.
That is EXACTLY right. Somehow the floors always seemed dingy and the lighting was bad, even in relatively new stores.
A&P is only in NJ and NY, a far cry from The Great Atlantic and Pacific Company of the distant past!
I forgot to mention the lighting. You are correct, it always seems dim in Winn-Dixie.
No, why don't you read another article?
There are in Canada- A&P Canada bought the bankrupt Dominion Stores and operate as A&P Dominion. I don't know if they are still affiliated with the US operation, though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.