Since Publix vacated its store in the Gateway Town Center on Dec. 28, Winn-Dixie has been working on preparing the space for a Feb. 12 opening.
Winn-Dixie has started to build-out the 28,120-square-foot space at 5210 Norwood Ave. in preparation for its opening.
Publix left shelving, cold storage, checkout lines and other equipment when it closed in December. Winn-Dixie will renovate the space to make it look like its other stores.
Anthony Hucker, president and CEO of Southeastern Grocers, Winn-Dixie’s parent company, said Jan. 8 the store would offer customers organic choices; deli, meat and seafood counters; and a produce section. Hucker said he guaranteed the prices would be lower than what shoppers were used to in that store.
Hucker declined to state the investment Winn-Dixie is making in the property.
In the meantime, Winn-Dixie is providing a free mobile food pantry from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.
To staff the facility, Winn-Dixie is holding weekly job fairs at the store from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Full-time and part-time jobs are available. The store is looking for associates, stockers, meat cutters, cake decorators and managers, among other positions.
Hucker said the company considered opening its Harveys Supermarket brand in the space, but one operates about a mile away and Southeastern Grocers wanted to give customers a choice between the two stores.
City Council unanimously approved an $850,000 taxpayer-backed grant after Winn-Dixie requested incentives from the city to help it move into the Gateway Town Center.
The money will be pulled from the Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund to “offset costs associated with redeveloping and outfitting” the Publix space.
Council member Reggie Gaffney, who represents the district, said he heard concerns from 10 to 15 nearby businesses when they found out d Publix was leaving the shopping center. There also was fear from the community that the area would become a food desert.
“This really would have been a tragedy ... if this store hadn’t said yes,” Gaffney said at a news conference at the store Jan. 8.
Hucker said Winn-Dixie decided to open in Gateway to “invest in the economic vitality of the community” and provide it with “healthy, nutritious food.”
“When we talked to the local community leaders, in particular Councilman Gaffney, what they described in their words was somewhat of a crisis going on,” Hucker said.
“They were concerned about a food desert going on. When we heard the cries for help from community leaders to come and invest in Brentwood, we decided that’s what we wanted to do.”
