By By JOHN DILMORE JR. Publisher
The Winn Dixie stores in Brewton and Atmore are not among those included in an organized effort by the Jacksonville-based supermarket chain to exit markets where it has had a hard time turning a profit.
Both stores --and most Winn Dixie outlets in Alabama -- fit into a category of locations the company says it is interested in keeping, and continuing to develop.
That doesn't mean that no Winn Dixie store in this area will ever close -- stores are shut down here and there due to various reasons, over the normal course of doing business.
It simply means, Gage said, that the stores here and others in the state have not been designated for closure or sale as part of the chain's current efforts to boost overall profitability.
That move to exit some troubled markets -- by closing stores or selling them off -- involves stores that aren't profitable, Gage said, and that, "we don't think will ever become profitable."
At the end of March, Winn Dixie was operating 1,078 stores in 52 DMAs and the Bahamas. The current round of sales and shut-downs will reduce that number to 922 stores in the above-mentioned 36 DMAs.
These core DMAs are located in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, and parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Markets the company is exiting are in the Midwest, Virginia and certain parts of North Carolina and South Carolina.