Managing Editor
Downtown store doing well
Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. will close 30 stores, including one in Jacksonville, and eliminate about 120 jobs because of the economy, Chairman and CEO Peter Lynch said Tuesday.
He declined to identify the Jacksonville location that will close, but specified it was not the Downtown store, which was remodeled.
“That store is off-the-charts successful,” said Lynch.The Downtown store, remodeled in fall 2008, has about 100 employees.
He said the stores that will close, which will be announced after associates are told, are not those that have been renovated. He said they were underperforming locations throughout the company’s five-state area of operations.
The 120 eliminated jobs are in the stores and in the central operations in Jacksonville, he said, and those affected will be told by today. Store associates can apply for other jobs within the chain, he said.
“These steps will help us with another challenging year,” said Lynch. “I sincerely regret how this will affect some of our associates.”
The closings and job cuts should be completed by Sept. 22, the end of the chain’s first quarter of fiscal 2011.
Jacksonville-based Winn-Dixie, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization almost four years ago, operates 514 stores in five states: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. It employs about 48,000 people.
Winn-Dixie operates 51 stores and three SaveRites in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia.
Lynch expects to save $12 million to $17 million a year because of the closings and cuts.
Lynch said Winn-Dixie also will consolidate its four operating regions into three, which will help control costs.
The South region will encompass the area from Tampa south to Key West; the Central region will run from Tampa north through Jacksonville and into Georgia; and the West will be the area west to New Orleans.
Lynch said Winn-Dixie continues to remodel stores and also is opening new locations in stronger markets.
Lynch said during an interview at Winn-Dixie’s Westside headquarters that the moves will position the company for a continuing challenging economy.
“I’m very confident in our strategy,” he said, referencing the “fresh and local” focus in its stores.
Lynch said he still sees Winn-Dixie’s customers facing a tough time financially. “We see a continuation of what happened last year,” he said, “as our unemployment numbers and housing” markets continue to struggle.
“I wish for a speedy recovery, but I don’t see that in the cards right now.”
Lynch said the cost-cutting moves were necessary.
“It’s just streamlining for a challenging year,” he said.
”We’re taking a hard look at every position in the company,” he said. Companies that don’t look ahead “get in trouble.”
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