Winn-Dixie #2304 - New Smyrna Beach, FL (Post-Remodel)

Winn-Dixie #2304

1835 State Route 44, New Smyrna Beach, FL - Coast Plaza

     From the calming teal and cream pastels of the late 90's, Winn-Dixie transports this store into the late 2010's with many, many, gallons of red paint, both inside and out. As part of Winn-Dixie's most ambitious remodeling campaign since the post-bankruptcy era of 2007-2009, the Winn-Dixie in New Smyrna Beach was included as part of the remodeling sweeps of 2017/2018. However, had it not been for Publix rebuilding their store across the street, I feel this Winn-Dixie would have kept its old Marketplace decor in-tact. The threat of a new Publix immediately across the street probably scared corporate into remodeling this store as a way to keep shoppers from fleeing to the new modern grocery shopping accommodations awaiting them on the other side of Route 44. While the vast majority of Winn-Dixie's remodels in the last few years have been far from extensive, this store did receive some more love than many other recently remodeled Winn-Dixies I've visited in the last few months. While nothing major changed about the building or this store's layout, Winn-Dixie did put in the effort to redo some of the more aged parts of the floor, as well as adding some upgraded decor to the service departments.

     Even with all the red on the front of this building today, this place is still very much a 90's Marketplace store at its core. The new logo and red paint look nice on this style of building too.

     Some of that red decor can be seen through the open door in this photo. Let's head inside and take a look at even more of that stuff...

     Stepping inside is the cart corral, above which is the customized welcome sign. Each Winn-Dixie with the Down Down/Red Decor has a sign featuring old photos of Winn-Dixie stores, with some stores getting additional local flare photos thrown into the mix too, like the sign here. In addition to the classic Winn-Dixie photos, the nearby Ponce Inlet Lighthouse is featured on this sign, as well as one of Florida's many beachside pelican friends (this is New Smyrna Beach after all, so Winn-Dixie had to throw something in to represent that!).

     Stepping away from the cart corral, this new "Sand & Surf" department greets us as we head past the registers into the rest of the store. Prior to the remodel, this little alcove (which was home to a photo counter when this store opened) was used as a space to store some random promotional merchandise. With the remodel, that sad little alcove was transformed into this, and looks really nice too! I like the tiki bar theme used for this department, a nice touch and a way to add a little fun to this department. Previously, the beach stuff was housed in front of the old pharmacy counter, the decorations a bit more halfheartedly thrown together then.

     Finally getting into the main part of the salesfloor, produce greets us as the first department we come across. The old floor tiling was ripped up in the produce department to install some new wood-grain style tiles, one of the fancier touches this store received. The produce displays also appear to be new.

     Looking from produce toward the back right corner of the store in this photo. Instead of the usual sea of red found at most remodeled Winn-Dixie stores, this store's service departments got wood paneling where red paint would have otherwise been used. The wood paneling makes for a nicer contrasting effect to offset the power of all that red.

     The wood paneling extends from the deli department in the back right corner all the way to the butcher counter about halfway down the store's back wall. We'll also see the wood paneling again in the bakery, as well as take a few closer looks at the paneling when we get to those particular departments.

     As usual in these Down Down/Red Decor remodels, the original large floral counter located between produce and the alcohol were removed. In exchange, floral got pushed over toward the wall. Even with the counter gone, the selection of flowers still looked to be about the same now as it was prior to the remodel.

     Floral is followed by Wine & Beer, the only department in the store to get the black painted walls.

     Even back here in the alcohol department, the floor tiles were replaced with a new design.

     In addition to the wall sign, the Wine & Beer department also included this sign hanging above the department itself.

     Finding ourselves in the deli department now, the texturing of the wood paneling becomes more apparent. The addition of the wood really helps remove much of that overbearing feeling you get from the stores that are almost entirely red. Even in BI-LO's recent remodels, the use of wood is much more common to see than with Winn-Dixie's. In case you haven't seen it, BI-LO uses this same decor, but with green as the primary color instead of Winn-Dixie's red. Saying that also makes me want to ask this question: Which version of the Down Down decor do you guys like the best - Winn-Dixie's red version, BI-LO's green version, or Harvey's/Fresco y Mas's yellow version? It's all the same decor, but I think the change in color palate can make a real difference in perception.

     In addition to the wood paneling, the tile backsplashes in the service departments were also replaced with this decor's black tiles. The refreshed deli department we find post-remodel has some additional offerings like the meat carving station and a sub counter in addition to the cold cuts. The island cooler in front of the deli is still the original cooler, just repainted. The deli cases appear to be a combination of refreshed old cases mixed in with a few new ones to accommodate the expansion of the prepared foods.

     The "kitchen" is the prepared foods portion of the deli, with the hot food trays located immediately under the word "kitchen" up there on the wall. The carving station I mentioned before is also over here, along with the sandwich station and the chicken wing bar.

     And it's just not a recent Winn-Dixie remodel without the addition of the Dollar Shop, visible here in the distance beyond all the soda.

     Like I've said before, the Dollar Shop is a great idea, especially in the realm of impulse buying. Winn-Dixie really wants to push the prominence of these Dollar Shops in their stores to the point where the Dollar Shops now get exterior signage on the building, just like the pharmacy would if this store had one. You can see this store's exterior Dollar Shop sign in the last photo of this post.

      Even though these Dollar Shops typically appear in Winn-Dixies that have gotten recent remodels, I have seen one Winn-Dixie in the last year get a Dollar Shop without getting an entire remodel.

     Leaving the land of $1 merchandise behind us, here's a look across the front of this store.The Dollar Shop takes up the first two grocery aisles after the produce department. The regular groceries begin in aisle 3.

     For our first look at one of the grocery aisles, we take a peek down aisle 5, home to breakfast foods.

     A bit of redundancy with the categories on this aisle marker, but I guess this is better than leaving a blank panel up there. The butcher counter also peeks out from the end of this aisle.

     It's a remodeled Winn-Dixie, but there's no red on the walls for as far as the eye can see here!

     The meat and seafood service counter is peeking out from behind all of these displays.

     Angling the camera a bit more to my left, here's a look across the back of this store. The red returns once we hit the pre-packaged meat cases and dairy further down the wall.

     Here's the frozen foods department in the middle of the store. While the coolers are the old ones with a new paint job, the flooring is new. You can see the before look by clicking here. Instead of getting fancy new coolers, Winn-Dixie opted to splurge on wood paneling here instead. 

     Returning to the back wall, the meat coolers become visible here. Like with frozen foods, it's the same coolers in this part of the store. However, unlike frozen foods, what you see here is the original tile pattern. At least this tile pattern goes rather well with the new decor, unlike some other decor mis-mashes we've seen in the past.

     Moving back into the grocery aisles, the very 90's lighted magazine rack was removed to make a new home for the greeting cards, which jumped across the aisle. The former home of the greeting cards became home to baby supplies.

     The aisles in the health and beauty department were reconstructed to eliminate the odd "Aisle 11A" situation that was once here. With the remodel, these health and beauty aisles now line up perfectly with the aisles behind them.

      With the moving of the Sand & Surf department to the front of the store, the space in front of the old pharmacy counter has become home to some snacks and drink coolers.

     Some new paint and some wood paneling, and the bakery looks much more modern than before! While I am sad to see the old neon go, Winn-Dixie did a good job cleaning up this store, even if their remodels are on a much more restrictive budget than what the flamboyant neighbors across the street do. The display cases and tables in the bakery also appear to be new.

      This picture is my official close-up of the wood paneling we've been seeing throughout this store. People always used to make fun of wood paneling for being something right out of the 1970's, but I guess the stuff is becoming trendy again, just like vinyl records and, believe it or not, the fanny pack!

     Anyway, in the last aisle we find the dairy department. Since I've been linking to a bunch of before photos throughout this post, I might as well keep that going with this photo of the dairy department before the remodel.

     Here's one last look across the back wall before we return to the dairy aisle...

     Here's a scene I always tend to forget to grab at these 90's Winn-Dixie stores: A look straight down the center aisle, which separates the grocery aisles in half.

     Lastly, a few parting shots of the front end before I wrap up this post...

     So there you have it - a recently remodeled Winn-Dixie! It's certainly not the most grandiose remodel we've seen, but it's nice to see Winn-Dixie try. Will this remodel be enough to keep this store afloat against the fancy new Publix across the street? We'll just have to wait and see...

     While I've finished my coverage of these supermarket remodels in New Smyrna Beach, our time in this town is not over yet. Tune into AFB on August 25th for our grand finale from New Smyrna Beach, featuring a fantastic relic of the past that also ties into this series. Be sure to head over to AFB on the 25th to see this!

So until the next post,

AFB

Winn-Dixie #2304 - New Smyrna Beach, FL (Pre-Remodel)

Winn-Dixie #2304

1835 State Route 44, New Smyrna Beach, FL - Coast Plaza

     With our coverage of the old and new Publix store across the street out of the way, it's time to take a peek at what the competition across the street is up to. On the opposite side of Route 44 we find ourselves a typical mid-90's Winn-Dixie Marketplace store, for the most part still stuck in the mid-90's too. Winn-Dixie never did a lot of upgrading to this store over the years, leaving it to sit in pretty much the same state from its opening in 1996 until its first major overhaul in late 2018. Out here on the exterior, one of the only changes made until this point was switching out the old "Winn-Dixie Marketplace" signage for a generic Winn-Dixie logo, however that change must have happened sometime in the early 2000's, before the 2005 bankruptcy based on the logo used.

     Prior to building this store, Winn-Dixie served the shoppers of New Smyrna Beach with a store over on the beachside. The beachside store, which dated back to 1984, was located about three miles to the east of here at the end of New Smyrna's South Causeway. The beachside Winn-Dixie would be replaced by this new store, featuring Winn-Dixie's more modern Marketplace concept of the time. However, the beachside Winn-Dixie, which I do have photographed, is a really interesting story for another day.

      Thoughts of old Winn-Dixies aside, let's get back to the old but still operational one we'll be taking a tour of today. Probably prompted by the complete tear down and rebuild of the Publix store across the street, this Winn-Dixie received it's first major remodel in 22 years in the fall of 2018. Away would go the neon and pastels of the Marketplace decor in favor of the red, red, and more red of Winn-Dixie's current Down Down decor. Winn-Dixie would complete their remodel of this store on December 13, 2018, just in time for Christmas, and about three months into Publix's rebuild. Had the Publix across the street not gone through its remodel, Winn-Dixie probably would have continued to let this store sit as it was for quite a bit longer.

     But before we take a look at all those fancy new red walls, let's take a peek at the fun, oh-so-90's-Florida Marketplace interior this store had for 22 years. In we go...

     As usual in these Marketplace era Winn-Dixies, we enter behind the front registers. Beyond the registers are bins and displays of the week's promotions, followed by produce (which is located behind me).

     "The Low Price Leader" slogan was placed on this wall near the main entrance, somewhat appropriately near all the promotional merchandise. When this store opened a photo counter would have been located here, but all of those were removed from Winn-Dixie's stores by the 2005 bankruptcy.

     Leaving the old photo alcove, here's a look into the produce department in the front right corner of the store.

     The Winn-Dixie "Wall of Special Values" can be seen in the background here, a common sight in these Marketplace era stores.

     Here's a close-up of the classic Marketplace-era diamond signage for the produce department.

     Winn-Dixie had this fancy wooden display made for the produce department, although the display now houses bags of peanuts. Featuring the 2006-2016 logo, this display was one of the newer additions to the produce department here.

     More modern displays could be found just in front of that wooden one, featuring Winn-Dixie's current logo. While more updated, this display was nothing more than some cardboard trays stacked on top of each other. Still, the bright red does make this display pop out from the pastels in the rest of this department!

     The floral department was housed in an island between the produce department and a few short grocery aisles, behind which was the deli counter.

     Stepping into aisle 1, we find the beer wall. Someone decided to go through the effort to update this particular department sign (probably to update a department name mismatch, however it could also be that the old beer signage just didn't have enough emphasis to it, as you can't say cold beer without an exclamation point after it!)

     In the back right corner we find the deli, complete with a partially working neon sign. Partially and non working neon is a common sight in these remaining Marketplace stores, unfortunately.

     There were a few short aisles of groceries between the deli and floral island. Aisle 2, which was rather wide, was home to the chips.

     While aisles 1-3 were rather short due to the placement of the produce department, aisles 4-15 were all standard length. Here's a look across the remainder of the store, as seen from the front end.

     Here's another look across the front end, this photo taken a few steps further down the front aisle.

     Cookies and cereal could be found in aisle 4.

     Exiting aisle 4 and turning to the left, we find the meat and seafood counter. Unlike the deli, the neon in the meat department sign is either completely burnt out or turned off entirely. The letters would have lit up blue just like the rest of the neon in the 90's Marketplace decor.

     Here's a look straight back at the meat and seafood counter, the old "Fisherman's Wharf" sign is visible in the background.

     Beyond the meat counter, the prepackaged meats continue along the back wall. The prepackaged meats eventually transition into a few coolers of frozen meat, followed by dairy in the back left corner.

     Here's another random grocery aisle view. Turning into the next aisle though, we'll find the frozen foods:

     Between the color scheme of the signs and the floors, in addition to the old looking coolers with pastel trim, the frozen foods department in these Marketplace stores always gives off the strongest 90's vibe of any department in the store (at least to me).

     Those few coolers along the wall were home to frozen meats, with dairy just beyond that. In the center of the aisle are some tiny old coffin coolers, used to house various promotional items from the meat department.

     Leaving frozen foods and the back wall, we enter aisle 9. In this aisle are the greeting cards and magazines. The lighted magazine rack also looks very 90's, and offered a large selection of magazines to choose from.

     The former pharmacy counter was covered over with a few bamboo mats and shelves to create a home for some beach toys and accessories. Route 44 is the main road to New Smyrna's beachside, so most stores on this stretch like to increase their beach offerings to appeal to tourists (and locals) going out for a day at the beach.

     In front of the old pharmacy counter was the health and beauty department. In these mid-90's Marketplace stores, the original layouts had health and beauty aisles that were narrower than the main grocery aisles. The narrower aisles didn't line up exactly with the other aisles behind it, usually leading to an extra aisle in the front half of the store compared to the rest. For that reason, aisle 11A was born, stuffed in between aisles 11 and 12. The situation was weird to see in person, the random aisle 11A sign throwing off the sequential order of the rest of the grocery aisles. It almost made this aisle seem like an afterthought.

      In this photo you can see the hanging health and beauty sign, as well as how the health and beauty aisles don't quite line up right with the main aisles behind them. Before the aisle markers were switched out in this store in the early 2000's (from these to the tri-siders you see here, a common upgrade in these older stores), the old aisle markers in the front were hung to align with the aisles in the back. With that being the case, the markers hung over the shelves in the health and beauty section rather than the aisle, which was also weird to see in person, although eliminating the need to have aisle 11A sign!

     Putting the strange Marketplace era health and beauty section behind us, here's a look down the back half of aisle 11 (where everything lines up right). This half of the aisle is home to office supplies and paper products.

     The frozen meats got their own special signage, which is pictured here.

     Here's another look across the back of the store, looking back toward the meat counter and the deli.

     The front right corner of the store is home to the bakery, complete with a fully-working neon sign. (The only example of such in the entire store). This store had a very nice selection of baked goods too. When you can find a Winn-Dixie with a decent sized bakery, they do put out some good stuff!

     Looking into the bakery counter, some old signage advertising the store's cakes could be found on the wall, as well as the 90's logo etched onto some decorative glass above the cooler.

     My phone did a good job capturing the neon in this shot, with this photo turning out nice and clear too to capture the crispness of the neon!

     This store's last aisle, aisle 15, was home to prepackaged breads and the majority of the dairy department. Some mini coffin coolers could be found in the center of this aisle too that featured the week's promotional dairy offerings.

     This was the dairy sign placed above the milk coolers on the store's back wall, the only portion of the dairy department not contained in aisle 15.

     Here's another look at the main dairy aisle, with the bakery visible in the background.

     Having now covered pretty much everything, it's time to make our way past the old pharmacy and back to the front end...

     At some point the check lane lights here were removed. Like just about all Marketplace stores, the lights here were changed out to the Purple/Maroon style ones in the early 2000's. The original Marketplace style lights looked like this (the pastel pink ones on those really ancient looking self checklanes behind the candy display), although those would be an extremely rare find at an operational Winn-Dixie today.

     Here's a quick peek at the customer service desk as we get ready to head out...

     Thank you for shopping at America's Supermarket! Even though Winn-Dixie never really left the general confines of the Southeast even at their peak, "America's Supermarket" would be even more of a stretch for the company to claim today. I don't have the exact figures, but I do know nearly 400 of Winn-Dixie's remaining 475-ish stores are in Florida alone. And it's not like Winn-Dixie can try to call themselves "Florida's Supermarket" today either, as a certain other supermarket chain and their 800 Florida locations owns that title.

     Stepping back outside, this Winn-Dixie is about to prepare itself to battle a newer, larger Publix about to open across the street. Trying to take on the challenge, a remodel is about to ensue here. While this building won't be leveled like we saw across the street, Winn-Dixie did put more effort into this particular remodel than some of their other recent remodels. So how did the remodel turn out, you ask? Did a lot change compared to what we just saw today? Does the Down Down decor look good in this store? Will the results of Winn-Dixie's remodel be enough to save itself from the Publix across the street? Will AFB stop asking so many questions?! The answers to these questions and possibly more will be revealed next time...

So until the next post,

AFB