Mickey Starling
reporter3@greenepublishing.com
In an Aug. 16 press release, the corporate office of the Aldi grocery chain announced the acquisition of Winn Dixie and Harvey’s stores throughout the southeast, which could include the Madison store. Corporate representatives were not able to confirm the status of the Madison store.
One fact is certain. If the merger is finalized, all Winn Dixie pharmacies will close by the end of the year, and CVS and Walgreens will receive all prescriptions and records of current customers. Of course, prescriptions can be transferred elsewhere before then.
Should the Aldi purchase be completed, it will add an additional 400 stores to the chain’s rapidly expanding market. Aldi is well known for offering lower grocery prices on a wide variety of items. Concerning the merger, Aldi CEO Jason Hart stated “ALDI will operate Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores with the same level of care and focus on quality and service, as we also evaluate which locations will convert to the ALDI format to better support the neighborhoods we’ll now have the privilege of serving. For those stores we do not convert, our intention is that these continue to operate as Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores.”