industry supermarket retail founded 1925 headquarters jacksonville florida u.s. key people ian mcleod president and ceo products grocery bakery dairy deli floral frozen food general merchandise meat pharmacy produce seafood liquor revenue 10 billion 2014 1 number of employees about 41 000 parent southeastern grocers website www.winndixie.com the winn dixie logo prior to 2006 . the winn dixie logo in 2006 . the current winn dixie logo in 2016 winn dixie stores inc. is an american supermarket chain based in jacksonville florida . 2 winn dixie has ranked number 24 in the 2010 top 75 north american food retailers based on fy2009 estimated sales of 7.3 billion by supermarket news . 3 and was ranked the 45th largest retailer in the united states based on 2012 revenues by stores magazine . 4 winn dixie currently operates 513 stores in florida alabama louisiana georgia and mississippi . the company has had its present name since 1955 and traces its roots back to 1925 . winn dixie is known for their private label chek brand soft drinks which are produced in over 20 different flavors plus diet and caffeine free varieties one of the widest assortments . winn dixie has been known as the beef people throughout its lifetime . in its advertising and print media winn dixie uses the brand promises of fresh checked every day for its jacksonville dma getting better all the time in its locations in central florida el sabor de tu pa s or the flavor of your country in its miami area stores and local flavor since 1956 in its louisiana area stores . winn dixie is also known for their slogan in florida beef it s what s for dinner . winn dixie was listed in the s & p 500 and had been traded on the new york stock exchange under the ticker symbol win since february 18 1952 prior to filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005 . the company was traded under the symbol winn on the nasdaq before its purchase . the bankruptcy left the chain with fewer stores than it had in the late 1960s . on december 19 2011 bi lo another southeastern supermarket chain announced plans to purchase winn dixie . on march 9 2012 winn dixie became a wholly owned subsidiary of bi lo holdings and winn dixie s ticker symbol was removed from the nasdaq . 5 bi lo holdings announced at the time of acquisition that the merged company would be based in winn dixie s former headquarters in jacksonville . bi lo had previously been based in greenville south carolina . when 2015 came around bi lo holdings transformed their name into southeastern grocers and continued to remain in jacksonville florida . contents 1 history 1.1 beginnings 1.2 acquisitions 1.3 involvements 1.4 banking 1.5 financial difficulties 1.6 bankruptcy 1.7 emergence from bankruptcy and acquisition by bi lo 2 brands 3 in popular culture 4 references 5 external links history edit beginnings edit winn dixie was founded and built up by william milton davis and his sons artemus darius davis james elsworth davis milton austin davis and tine wayne davis . william davis started in business in burley idaho where he bought a general store in 1914 that he later renamed davis mercantile . as was common then he sold most goods on credit . the advent of cash only grocery stores in the 1920s hurt davis business as the new stores offered lower prices and larger selections . 6 in 1925 william davis borrowed 10 000 from his father and moved to miami florida where he purchased the rockmoor grocery . in 1927 the company was renamed table supply and four more stores were opened . in 1931 the davis family bought the lively stores chain for 10 000 to create a chain of 33 table supply stores across florida from miami to tampa . william milton davis died in 1934 leaving his four sons in charge of the company . 7 in 1939 the davis brothers bought 51 percent of winn & lovett a chain of 73 stores . in 1944 the brothers bought the remainder of winn & lovett and merged the two chains under the winn & lovett name . the company headquarters moved to jacksonville . winn & lovett purchased the steiden stores chain of 31 stores in kentucky in 1945 as well as margaret ann stores with 46 stores in florida in 1949 . in 1952 winn & lovett became the first industrial corporation based in florida to be listed on the new york stock exchange nyse . 7 acquisitions edit winn & lovett continued to grow by acquiring other chains . penney stores in mississippi and ballentine stores as well as eden stores in south carolina were all acquired in 1955 . also in 1955 winn & lovett bought the 117 store dixie home chain and they changed its name to winn dixie . in 1956 winn dixie bought ketner milner stores in north carolina hill stores in louisiana and mississippi as well as king stores in georgia . in 1967 winn dixie bought the city markets chain in the bahamas effectively extending their reach into the caribbean . operating 12 stores through its domestic subsidiary w d bahamas limited s competitors included the domestic super value food stores and grand union s own caribbean operations until it sold the chain to bahamian investors in 2006 . 7 8 in 1995 winn dixie expanded with the purchase of the cincinnati based thriftway food drug . 9 in 2000 it acquired jitney jungle . 10 11 involvements edit although winn dixie stores and its predecessor winn & lovett has been publicly traded since 1952 the davis family has always maintained control of the corporation . as of february 2005 when the company entered bankruptcy the heirs of william milton davis still held about 35 percent of winn dixie stock . 12 the davis brothers also became involved in florida state politics supporting conservative causes . it is reported that their financial support helped george smathers beat incumbent u.s. senator claude pepper in 1950 . former u.s. treasury secretary donald regan is reported to have said of his financial guru james e. davis when j.e. calls i listen . 6 it is reported that after reading booker t. washington s up from slavery james e. davis began a program of winn dixie supporting historically black colleges and universities . 7 the davis brothers endowed the stetson university school of business administration with a building davis hall which was dedicated in 1967 . on the dedicatory plaque inside the building below the names of the donors there was written the inscription learn management that you may produce or distribute goods and services to improve the living for the people and produce a good return on invested capital for investors . 13 in the 1990s winn dixie gave a generous contribution to the boy scouts of america of the central florida council resulting in the renaming of camp la no che as the now winn dixie scout reservation . however when winn dixie encountered financial difficulties and could not sustain its promised contribution it released central florida council from its obligation to retain the name which has since been changed . winn dixie has long been involved in jacksonville including being considered the official supermarket of the jacksonville jaguars of the national football league nfl . 14 banking edit amicus bank fsb jointly operated marketplace bank from 2000 2002 with 185 outlets in florida . financial difficulties edit in april 2004 winn dixie announced the closure of 156 stores including all 111 stores located in the midwest . included were over 20 stores that had operated under the thriftway name in and around cincinnati ; they had been purchased by winn dixie in 1995 . another 40 stores in the atlanta area were converted to their save rite grocery warehouse brand as an alternative to store closure . bankruptcy edit on february 22 2005 winn dixie filed for bankruptcy . on june 21 it announced the sale or closure of 326 stores . as part of the restructuring the company pulled out of north carolina south carolina tennessee texas and virginia . once the restructuring completed winn dixie s footprint was reduced to the bahamas and five of the deep south states almost all of florida and alabama the southeastern half of louisiana the southeast corner of mississippi and the southwest and coastal corners of georgia . the closures left winn dixie with fewer stores than it had in the 1950s . on february 28 2006 it was announced that 35 more stores were to be sold or closed within the coming months with the central and south florida areas being the most affected . on march 31 2006 it was announced that the chain would sell its 12 bahamian locations which had been operated by a wholly owned subsidiary w d limited under the names city market and winn dixie . 15 emergence from bankruptcy and acquisition by bi lo edit on june 29 2006 winn dixie announced that it had filed a plan of reorganization with the u.s. bankruptcy court for the middle district of florida . the company emerged from chapter 11 protection on november 21 2006 in a much stronger financial position . 16 upon emerging from bankruptcy in 2006 winn dixie made great strides toward success which included a steadfast effort to modernize its existing store base while focusing on new locations for the future . on december 19 2011 winn dixie agreed to be sold to bi lo for 530 million . 17 as part of the deal winn dixie became a subsidiary of bi lo though its stores would continue to operate under the winn dixie name . as of march 9 2012 winn dixie became part of bi lo holdings the parent company of both bi lo and winn dixie ending 67 years of davis family ownership . altogether the combined company operates 750 stores in seven southeastern states employing approximately 63 000 team members . the merged company is based in winn dixie s former headquarters in jacksonville . on october 8 2013 all remaining sweetbay supermarket locations were rebranded into winn dixie . from there bi lo holdings transformed their name into southeastern grocers in 2015 . state number of stores alabama 60 florida 375 georgia 17 louisiana 47 mississippi 14 brands edit winn dixie has run over 60 private label brands over the years . in 2003 the company cut the number down to a three tier system of brands the prestige brand for upscale private label products winn dixie for its mainstream items and thrifty maid for its value items . 18 in 2007 all three brands received redesigned packaging with plans to replace the prestige brand with winn & lovett . 19 20 in 2010 winn dixie replaced its value centered brand thrifty maid with valutime . 21 valuetime was replaced with clear value in 2012 . the brands of clear value for the budget minded shopper winn dixie which is designed to be as good as or better than national brands and winn & lovett the premium top tier label are the current private labels the organization uses store wide . winn dixie carries a store brand line of organic and natural foods as well . 22 these brands are on numerous products in almost all departments . other category specific brands include chek for the store brand soft drinks and kuddles for the store brand baby related items . the manufacturer code portion of the upc remains 21140 for the winn dixie and winn & lovett labels . in early 2013 bi lo phased out its own private label soft drinks in its bi lo stores in favor of the popular chek brand . winn dixie employs more than 48 000 associates who serve customers in approximately