Battle of the Florida grocers:

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Washington D.C. – Winn-Dixie’s CEO, Peter Lynch, is on a mission. As reported in the St. Petersburg Times, Mr. Lynch is fighting hard to regain the lost market share in Florida. So much so that Winn-Dixie is spending north of $2M per store on remodels. In Tampa alone this is projected to cost more than $70M. Moreover, Winn-Dixie is also poised to spend $4M on new store concept openings (more than 10 are planned for 2011). Will this be enough to resuscitate a struggling brand?

Today Publix and a distant second Walmart, control almost 2/3 of the Florida grocery market. With its strong emphasis on serving the customer and the constant pursuit of excellence, Publix continues to innovate its offerings and appeal to a wide spectrum of shoppers, but most agree it dominates the affluent customer segment. As in other states, Walmart has effectively squeezed the low-price competition in Florida. At the same time, newcomers such as ALDI are aggressively expanding their store base in the state. Shoppers find comparable products at EDLP prices at ALDI. It is not hard to understand why they prefer to shop at clean, streamlined ALDI stores rather than going to an old Winn-Dixie. (more…)