Winn-dixie Stores, Inc

1. Company Details

Winn-Dixie stores, Inc are a public company and it is registered with NASDAQ under the registration of WINN. The Winn-Dixie stores were first founded and established in 1925 and headquarter is situated at Jacksonville in the state of Florida, USA. The present chairman of the company is Peter Lynch. He is also the CEO and the President of Winn-Dixie stores and could be termed as the key personality of the company.

The industry of the Winn-Dixie belongs is the retail business in the form of supermarket. It could be stated that the main products of the company are liquor, snacks, seafood, produce, pharmacy, meat, general grocery, frozen foods, deli, dairy and Bakery. It was reported in the 2007 Top 75 North American Food Retailers published by Supermarket News as on January 1, 2007 was around $7.5 billion in the financial year 2006- 2007. The official website of the company is www.winndixie.com and it should be noted that the slogan of the company is “Getting Better All the Time”. (Collinwood, 2007)

It should also be noted that the Winn-Dixie is responsible for running over more than 60 stores as on 2006- 2007 and they are established by the term “private labels”. Very recently, in 2003, the company decided to cut down the stores within three major divisions in accordance to their formulation. The first segment is reported to be comprised of products that are formulated under private label and are supposed to be branded as upscale. This segment is named “Prestige”. The second group of products is referred to as “Winn-Dixie” and these mainly deal with the products or items belonging to the mainstream segment. The third layer is called “Thrifty Maid” and the products of this section are basically economy products that the company refers to as the “value items”. It should be noted in this context that the basic three brands of the Winn-Dixie is positioned at 21140 as its portion of manufacturer code under the UPC.

2. Current situation / statement of problem

It should be noted that the company is facing financial difficulties lately. S&P 500 came to its worst position or performance in 2003 in terms of company stocks and that too when the store had a workable chain of stores with over 1000 outlets. It became soon very clear that the company must close down several stores as an act of financial management technique. To carry out this plan of action 111 outlets or stores were closed down in Midwest alone in the beginning of 2004 April. The overall closure of stores during this timeframe was totaled at 156 countrywide. Among these there were 20 outlets that were called “Thriftway” and all these stores were located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It should be noted that the company bought these outlets in 1995. The main cause of this disaster was identifies as a result of competitions put forward by other retail or supermarket companies like Wal-Mart and Publix. Soon most of South Carolina stores were closed and North Carolina suffered its most with all the stores being liquidated. Alongside about 40 stores in Atlanta was forced to be converted.

As a result of all these setbacks the company was reduced to its financial abyss and in February 22, 2005 the company was forced to declare Bankruptcy. Another 326 stores were closed in June 21 and the cumulative loss of employment due to this disaster was calculated up to 22000. In this context it should be noted that the company put forward a recognition plan with the Florida Bankruptcy Court of US in 2006, 29th June. The company, on 2006, 21st November, was found seeking protection from the Chapter 11 and gained with it under the parameters of a better situation in terms of financial stability. However, the latest news reported in January 2007 indicates that the company’s case of bankruptcy is being handled by Flom & Meagher of New York and in Jacksonville area it is looked after by the Smith, Hulsey, & Busey law firm. The lawyers of this case are Cyndi Jackson and Steve Busey. (Lamb, 2007)

It can well be mentioned in this context of the financial disaster of the Winn-Dixie that the primal threat of this industry was the emergence of Wal-Mart as a grocery store chain in the 1990s. The industrial challenge that this company generated for the Winn-Dixie, along with other competing companies, soon became extremely difficult and the Winn-Dixie stores simply gave way to the challenge. However, it should be remembered that the challenge of the Winn-Dixie is not over and there are every possibility that once the legal proceedings are over and successfully negotiated the company is well capable of bouncing back and take to challenge it its opponents. As for the time being it can be stated that the company Winn-Dixie is lying low to look for opportunity to gain fresh access to the retail and supermarket industry.

References:

• Collinwood, P A; January, 2007; 2007 Top 75 North American Food Retailers; Supermarket News; Howard Press
• Lamb, D; July, 2007; Cult to Culture: The Development of Civilization on the Strategic Strata; National Book Trust