Jacksonville's Winn-Dixie Sells Its Last 5 Georgia Stores to Food Lion, Leaving 120-Plus Groceries and 100 Liquor Stores, All in Florida

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Winn-Dixie, the grocery chain that has called Jacksonville home since 1944, is about to become a Florida-only company. The Winn-Dixie Company said Nov. 6 that it has agreed to sell its five remaining stores in southern Georgia to Food Lion LLC, a move the Jacksonville-based grocer said completes its return to operating strictly in its home state. Once the deal closes, the company expects to run more than 120 Winn-Dixie grocery stores and more than 100 liquor stores, all of them in Florida.

The five stores are in Brunswick, Folkston, Lake Park, St. Simons Island and Valdosta, in communities along Interstate 95 and Interstate 75 just north of the Florida line. According to the Food Lion announcement published by The Shelby Report on Nov. 6, the addresses are 5420 Jesup Highway in Brunswick, 3606 Second St. in Folkston, 1060 Lakes Blvd. in Lake Park, 220 Retreat Village on St. Simons Island and 3200 N. Ashley St. in Valdosta. The stores will keep operating under the Winn-Dixie name until the transaction closes, which both companies said is subject to customary closing requirements.

What changes in December

Food Lion said it plans to close each store briefly for conversion and reopen all five in mid-December with its own layout and product assortment. The reopened stores will offer Food Lion To Go, the chain's pickup and home delivery service, according to the announcement. Food Lion expects to hire roughly 375 associates to staff the five locations.

The purchase pushes Food Lion to 51 stores in Georgia, the company said. Food Lion is based in Salisbury, North Carolina, operates more than 1,100 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, and is part of Ahold Delhaize USA. The grocer had been on track to open 10 new stores by the end of 2026, and the Winn-Dixie deal raises that total to 15, according to The Shelby Report's account.

"The addition of these stores will allow us to nourish more families across Georgia," Food Lion President Greg Finchum said in the announcement. Neither company disclosed a purchase price. The Food Partners served as financial and strategic adviser to The Winn-Dixie Company on the sale, the Jacksonville company said in its Nov. 6 release distributed by Business Wire.

Why Winn-Dixie is selling

Raymond Rhee, president and CEO of The Winn-Dixie Company, said in the release that Florida has been the company's home for more than 100 years. He said the sale lets the company direct more resources toward expanding and strengthening its presence across Florida, and he acknowledged the decision's impact on employees and customers in southern Georgia, where he said the company values its long-standing relationships. The company describes its goal as being Florida's hometown grocer.

The decision reverses the plan Winn-Dixie laid out a year ago. When parent company Southeastern Grocers announced on Oct. 20, 2025, that it would close or sell 32 Winn-Dixie stores and eight Harveys Supermarkets in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, it said it would keep operating in southern Georgia and named Brunswick, Folkston, Lake Park, St. Simons Island and Valdosta as the stores it was keeping, according to coverage by Cheapism published Oct. 22, 2025. Grocery Dive, a trade publication, described the Food Lion sale on Nov. 9 as a reversal of that plan.

Winn-Dixie's release also listed what it calls a year of momentum in Florida. The company converted and opened three former Hitchcock's Markets in Williston, Keystone Heights and Alachua, completed eight remodels across Florida in 2026, and plans new stores in Zephyrhills and Eustis in 2027 while exploring further expansion statewide. It also counted 68 awards so far in 2026 for its store-brand products, community programs, workplace culture and sustainability efforts.

A century of ownership changes

Winn-Dixie's roots go back to 1925, when William Milton Davis bought the Rockmoor Grocery in Miami, according to the company's published history. The Davis family bought the rest of Winn & Lovett in 1944 and moved the headquarters to Jacksonville, and the company took the Winn-Dixie Stores name in 1955 after merging with Dixie-Home Stores, when it had nearly 400 stores. By the late 1960s the chain had grown past 700 stores across the Southeast.

The last two decades have been rougher. Winn-Dixie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 22, 2005, and emerged on Nov. 21, 2006, then merged with BI-LO in 2012 under a parent that renamed itself Southeastern Grocers in 2015. Southeastern Grocers went through a second Chapter 11 reorganization in 2018, emerging with 575 stores in seven states.

Discount chain Aldi agreed on Aug. 16, 2023, to buy about 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores and completed the purchase in March 2024. On Feb. 7, 2025, Aldi sold the company, including 170 Winn-Dixie grocery stores and 170 liquor stores, to a private investor group that includes C&S Wholesale Grocers. Southeastern Grocers became The Winn-Dixie Company on Jan. 21, 2026, and C&S became the majority owner in August 2026, according to The Shelby Report.

What it means for Northeast Florida shoppers

For shoppers in Duval, Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties, nothing changes at the checkout. The Florida stores, the liquor stores, the Winn-Dixie Rewards loyalty program and the company's online grocery delivery continue as before, and the company said it is exploring further expansion in the state. The sale affects only the five Georgia stores.

The change does matter for anyone who drives north. Folkston sits just across the St. Marys River from Nassau County, and Brunswick and St. Simons Island are familiar stops for Jacksonville travelers heading up I-95, so Winn-Dixie shoppers there will find a Food Lion in the same building by mid-December. Food Lion said it expects to hire roughly 375 associates for the five stores as part of the conversion.