Marketplace: The Final Hours

Winn-Dixie #184: The Afterlife

Quincy Plaza

1632 West Jefferson Street

Quincy, FL 32351

Welcome to another edition of The Afterlife; I am your host, The Sing Oil Blogger.

Today's subject should look familiar considering how we just took a full tour of this very supermarket before its fate was sealed last year.  Interestingly enough, today's collection of photos stems from just over a year ago and follows on the heels of the grocery store's equipment auction.  Oh yeah, and an empty supermarket serves as the perfect subject for a Halloween blog post (my lack of planning sometimes works in my favor).

Winn-Dixie officially closed the Quincy store on September 29, 2024, ending a legacy of over three-quarters of a century in Gadsden County.  ALDI held its grand opening in Quincy on April 16, 2025, as the seventh successful Southeastern Grocers conversion in the state.  I have yet to visit this location, or any former Winn-Dixie, since converting to ALDI; however, I feel confident that it now looks nearly identical to most any of the German discounter's stores on the inside.

 

I was on the fence as to whether I should participate in this liquidation given my past purchase experiences in Naples and Fort Myers; however, I couldn't resist the adventure once my friend, Charles Burgess, showed interest.  I told him that, "I don't need to [buy anything], but I'd like for somebody to save [the signs]!"  The historian / pack-rat in me would hate to see such iconic advertising pieces wind up in the dump.

Winn-Dixie #184 before permanently closing.

His interest, like mine, was piqued by the floral department sign that was up for sale.  I thought it looked sharp, and he agreed.  After all, it only managed to hang around in two Winn-Dixie stores by the time the ALDI sale was finalized, so it was a relatively rare sight.  

He was still on the fence as to whether this auction was the time to strike for a Winn-Dixie souvenir; I told him that just because some signs were for sale in Quincy that didn't mean they would be available in Bainbridge or elsewhere.  "At least Quincy is a given, though," was my response.

Everything, likewise, was a "go" until rumblings of a far-off hurricane began to surface.  Charles messaged me several days before the sale stating how, "Long range forecast models show a hurricane hitting the panhandle 9/28.  Too far out to know for sure."  That was on September 17th.

Little did I know that this would be my first alert for what was later known as Category 4 Hurricane Helene.

With the major storm looming on the horizon, Charles and I became increasingly concerned that this auction pickup wouldn't happen.  "If you want those items or know someone who does, feel free to outbid me.  I seriously doubt I would be able to get them," he said.  It felt like the wind had just been kicked out of me considering all of the things that had previously lined up for us to save a piece of this store.  Nevertheless, I persisted.

On the 26th, I messaged Charles, "Well, you won the signs.  Now let's just hope that this storm is better than they are saying."  There was no response.

Several days later, I followed up in asking how he fared through the storm.  Things could have been worse, all things considered, but there was now only a slim chance of him being able to rescue his purchases from the space.  He said that the odds were simply stacked against him.

I couldn't just sit by idly, so I drove to Quincy myself and packed what I could in my car.  Unfortunately, "[the] floral sign was mounted higher than I could reach to cut it down and it was heavier than I [had] hoped."

Winn-Dixie #184 before permanently closing.

We felt pretty defeated following my trip, even if I had managed to save a few of the classic aisle markers as a consolation prize (the last set of these used chain-wide).  

I made one last Hail Mary by contacting the auction company to see what sort of help they could provide.  Much to my surprise, they offered to take down the floral sign for a small price and notified me of an additional removal day.  "Best news I've had in a week!" said Charles.  Now, we just had to find a way to fit it in the car.

And that we did.  Charles managed to phone a friend with a truck, and I managed to arrange my schedule to help him out.  Heck yeah! 

 

A lot has changed since that day, as evidenced by the fact that I only knew of 48 confirmed conversions (compared to nearly 150 a year later).  Despite that, Southeastern Grocers has provided a small glimmer of hope with 5 scheduled store remodels and at least 3 new store acquisitions.  Those eight stores are still overshadowed by the news of more market exits, but I suppose none of this comes as a surprise.  The company seems to be selling off stores as a financing mechanism for improving others, much like what happened in 2021.

We can only hope for the best in spite of the numerous Facebook and Reddit comments; after all, at least the chain is no longer owned and operated by ALDI.

This hot and muggy fall day was a bittersweet experience for me knowing that it would, in fact, be the last time I donned the doors of this Marketplace.  I was, furthermore, uncertain as to whether this would be my last trip to any Marketplace.  You should know better than that being the case, but one day will, in fact, be my last.

Stepping inside, the space was in quite a bit more disarray than last time.  All the lights were still on, and the A/C was still running, which is better than some auctions, but the store already smelled of lifeless refrigerators and rotting gunk.  There is something distinctive about a vacant grocery store, and this place showed all of the signs.

The original blue banana stands from 1994 had already found their way to the floor, along with a few other sections of promotional shelving from the department.

I wonder . . . why is one of those diamonds missing?

Similar things happened in the lunch meat beer, wine, and floral departments.  I wonder if anybody purchased that cabinetry on my right.

Above the full-service flower shop was the seven-foot-wide florist sign; the bane of my existence on the day I took this photo.  I knew it was too large to fit in my car, but my 6' ladder wasn't even tall enough for me to reach the support wires and cut them down.  Just as Charles had said, bad luck was always hanging around.

If anything, I figured that I could at least snap a nice photograph of the sign from a new perspective.

I also seized the opportunity to grab a nice overview of the cleared out store . . .

. . . just before I removed the sign for aisle two.

It took a bit of patience to unravel the aisle markers given how the "S" hooks were attached to the chains.  Rest assured that these large signs were not going to fall regardless of how many pink category markers fluttered down over the years.

The beer was certainly cleared out by my visit, and I'd imagine that the 1994 Hussmann cases made their way to the scrap yard not long after this trip.

The delightful delicatessen sign was unfortunately not lit upon my return, and somebody reportedly bought it at auction.  I wonder what they ever did with it.  In my experience, it takes quite a bit of determination to remove it all in salvageable condition (and a bit of know-how to rescue the neon transformers from behind the sheetrock wall).

Look at how yellowed the side of that seafood case was!

I don't know about you, but I really enjoy seeing a fresh perspective of this space.  Don't you think this shot turned out nice?

Likewise, this perspective from aisle 5 isn't one that you see every day.

We'll take one last parting glance at the "Fresh Meats" sign with its custom "Beef People" text.

Spinning around, we find the frozen food aisles devoid of all products – a bit sad, isn't it?

Well, not quite as dystopian as this opposite perspective taken a few days later.  

The other hanging department sign left in this space was, of course, for frozen foods.  

It looked nice, save for the mounds of dust caked on its surface.

While it wasn't our intention, we ended up walking away from our second auction pickup day with a second department sign.  Charles figured he would ask about the frozen foods advert since the man was already kind enough to help us with the floral sign.  He gladly obliged (for another small fee) and we were soon watching him cut down the piece from atop his scissor lift.

I never got to ride the lift, but my ladder was able to provide a few more interesting angles for photos.  Look at all of those old "Down Down" promotional cards resting on the juice cooler.

I'd say that this was a sign of the store's pending demise. 

As some of the cases were removed, new relics were uncovered.

In addition to another "Down Down" orange juice tag (that I wish I had saved), I found a Coors price tag from the 1994 "Flick or Treat!" ad campaign, a beer planogram, and an "Everyday Lower Prices" hanging sign from the mid-1990's.  I guess this goes to show how alcohol once inhabited the old "beverage center".

I've said this before, but probably the most exciting part of going to these auctions is seeing what sort of long-forgotten finds you can uncover.

Back in the front of the store, we find the shuttered bakery counter with most of its original cases.

I would have loved to see this space when it first opened; I'd be especially curious to know what was first featured on those wire bakery racks.

It was all Charles could do to not ask for this Winn-Dixie emblazoned sheet of glass.  I'd imagine that it would be difficult to remove from that bakery case. 

Heading over to the pharmacy window, we see that some old signage managed to hang around behind the long-gone shelving units.

Anyhow, we'll wrap up our time in Quincy with a parting shot of Charles and his brand new sign.  As you can see, he was quite happy that we managed to pull off this feat and that sign was quite large!

I was especially happy to see a few pieces of the storied Marketplace package find new homes, including the aforementioned aisle markers.  

I ended up handing one of these signs off to Ryan Brotherston considering how I didn't know what to do with four of them.

It is especially interesting to see how faded the original AisleVision/Actmedia stock photos were and how yellowed the plastic body had become over the years.

The coral category markers were also incredibly brittle, with many of them crumbling to pieces as I tried to remove the larger signs.

At least I managed to capture a few of those long-forgotten relics (remember Plenti?), including the unique category marker for "catsup" which was once the predominant name for the red condiment in the South.

"Y," do you ask?  Well, I wish I could have collected a few more letters, but that thing was a total pain to get off the wall!

The sun has since set on this store, but that doesn't mean the story ends here.

Courtesy of Charles Burgess

Like I said earlier, this store has since reopened as an ALDI; however, I have yet to see it for myself.  Charles, on the other hand, couldn't resist stopping by, and reported that the inside looked identical to most any other ALDI store.  The outside, at least, still has some traces of the old Winn-Dixie, especially considering how ALDI didn't install its typical sloped exterior. 

That'll do it, folks, for this week's post; I hope you had fun exploring the final hours of this former Winn-Dixie.  I certainly had a memorable experience, but I wish that this day didn't have to come. 

Until next time,

- The Sing Oil Blogger