Winn Dixie

I try not to discuss regional marketing or entities -- I'd just be leaving out too much of my audience who live outside the region. It's limited enough as it is -- only those in North America can really get any take-away from this blog.

I'll make an exception in this case simply because my comments have more to do with business than advertising.

I saw a Winn Dixie ad the other day. Their slogan is "The real deal." Which is stupid, because at least their previous slogan "The beef people" was something that could be partially construed as true.

Winn Dixie has been in the news for its recent losses as a grocery retailer. It's closing some stores and distribution centers, quickly being marginalized by competitors who can offer "real deals" on food and other products.

There's a Winn Dixie two minutes from my apartment. Wal-Mart is 15 minutes away.

The funny thing is, my spending 13 extra minutes each way, I end up saving at least thirty dollars on my average grocery stock-up trip.

I shit you not.

Thirty dollars is a big deal to college students. That thirty dollars is immediately reinvested in more food, so as to keep myself nourished.

I will shed not a tear when Winn Dixie is eventually engulfed in its own debts. It's a wretched store. It's impossible shop there quickly. Even with their shoddy self-checkout lines, one can easily expect a ten minute wait to pay for whatever overpriced dreck one has chosen to buy there, no matter the time.

The sad thing in this little mess is the employees drawing paychecks and the small businesses that congregate around Winn Dixie stores hoping to siphon off their business. Across the street from my Winn Dixie is a ghost shopping center, populated more and more by vagrants and debris. The Winn Dixie plaza is sure to suffer a similar fate.

Say. Holler for managerial incompetence.