Winn-Dixie

The customer service is sub par and the store is disgusting. The floors looked like there was a mud pit by the meats and down the Isles and the employees acted as if the floors didn’t matter. Sweetbay was even better than this store! Definitely will be going to Publix for now on!

Convenient store. The price there is quite low, sometimes even they are as low as SAMs club. The seafood section is smelly.
Just take it as a grocery store without too much expectation. It aims for cheap food not quality service.

Winn-​Dixie isn’t a 4 or 5 star food store. If you want that you would go to fresh market or trader joes.
But they do have some good sales that can save you big $$ on feeding your family.
Believe it or not the main street store at 16^th & main has actually improved. They have slowly been renovating the layout.

I live close to Winn Dixie, which is located on 6^th and 16^th, right before Main Street if going East on 16^th. It is in the same lot as the VA parking lot, next to a BP and laundromat.
As expected, this place is dirty. It is a Winn Dixie, after all. If there was a Winn Dixie in Haile, it would still probably be the underarm of hell.
It has a fair selection of items. Nothing spectacular. A lot of cheap brand items here. The fruits and vegis never seem to be on sale when I’m here, but the seafood is always priced to sell. Smelling the area though, I wouldn’t be quick to jump on the deal.
The fatty parts of the pig are always on sale here, BOGO. Good for a student on a budget, bad for the waistline. But you can make some tasty pork chops out of those fellows.
I wouldn’t say this place is awful as much as it just doesn’t compare to Publix or Fresh Market, hell, even Albertson’s was better! But it is convenient. That’s about it. Oh, now that summer’s here, they do carry the tastiest Ice Pops in town. Seriously, even the orange pop was good. Besides that, I’d frequent elsewhere for my shopping.
As far as customer service goes, the people are blah. Not friendly, not mean. Just absent. They are physical forms with no personality behind them. I usually opt for self check-​out.
One thing that compelled me to write this review was their post Easter sale. Everything was on sale, 50% off candy, 75% off easter plush toys. I really wanted this one bunny on sale (a Cadbury bunny that clucked) but it had no sticker on it that it was on sale. I went to the pricing manager to ask if it was on sale (duh, it should be, who is going to buy an easter bunny after easter if it’s regular price?) While waiting, I also noticed the tag stating it came with a Cadbury crème egg, which was missing. He finally came and I asked him the price and he said $ 6.79. Seven bucks? This thing was the size of my palm! I asked him if it was on sale since it’s a bunny and all other easter items were on sale. He looked and me, annoyed, and said no. WTF, why? This doesn’t make any sense? He didn’t explain why either.
Soooo… I kind of despise going to this Winn Dixie, but since it’s so close, I go if I forget an item while I’m cooking at home. If not for that, I’d give it 1 – 1.5 stars.

NEWSFLASH: This place no longer sucks beyond all sucking!
I’m really rather shocked… I only used to ever pop in here when I had to (ie: Publix was closed) and even then — bleah. — hated it. Even had a hideous run-​in where they double charged my debit card — oh that was a day let me tell ya.
But…
They just renovated the place, and — well — it no longer sucks. Its still not Publix (I dearly love Publix) but still — Adding a liquor store and ripping out the broken 1986 teal and dusty rose tile has done wonders for the joint. New paint, windows, flooring, layout and such makes it a far more pleasant shopping experience.
This store is an upgrade from any Albertson’s I’ve been in — and I was never a fan of those places. Ever. I’m a Floridian and WinnDixie is one of the home teams, so I have to root for them.
This particular store is in an odd location — the nexus of downtown, an industrial area, a high end neighborhood to the south, a student ghetto and a ghetto-​ghetto (thats where I live!) In the daytime, the nearby apts give it an international flavor — late at night (10 pm or later) its a little sketchy…
But, all in all — I don’t hate walking in here the way I used to.
EDIT TO ADD: The liquor store has a decent selection and prices, so thats an added bonus. Prices are still not as good as Gator Spirits up the road, but not bad if you’re already there and need a bottle of something.

The best grocery store around.
Can’t go wrong here.
Clean store, low prices and friendly staff.

A few years ago, I, and about two dozen other hapless Winn-​Dixie employees from north central Florida, had the unfortunate opportunity to be forced to work at this particular store one day in an attempt to clean it up. This was one of several clean-​up attempts over the years, all of them a dismal failure. The store is known in Winn-​Dixieland as «Store #160,» and even the mention of the store’s number leaves many W/​D employees shuddering as it’s known to be one of the worst Winn-​Dixies in the entire state of Florida. It’s called «the store that care forgot.»
The first sign that we were in trouble was the sign itself outside; at the time of the clean-​up, some of the lights in the letters were blown out, and even a couple of the letters had been shattered. I got inside, and was blown away by the stale, musty smell throughout the store. This is seriously the oldest Winn-​Dixie I have ever seen, as if time stopped there around 1986. Very little had been updated, and everything was in serious disrepair. The air vents on the ceiling (those old-​time huge round ones) were loud and caked up with black and dark green sediment; many ceiling tiles were missing or badly water-​damaged and soon to fall in; and many of the lights inside were also in need of replacing.
The stench of rotting trash in the backroom could be smelled on the sales floor. Theft is also a major problem in this ghetto store, as security cameras were everywhere, including several in the backroom. A drunk bum was arrested while we were there for trying to steal package after package of meat by shoving it down his pants! Gainesville Police took him out the store in handcuffs, one of numerous arrests that go on at 160 due to theft.
The frozen food department was an utter disaster, with food out of date and so frozen it was stuck to the shelves. The frozen «coffin» cases were loud and were falling apart; one of them had a bent hunk of metal just jutting out ankle-​level and customers had to carefully skirt it to avoid getting hurt. The deli food looked horrible! All that was in the hot case was old mac & cheese, fried chicken and «chitlins,» all of it burned and dried out while the deli workers just stood around and took part in «ghetto gossip.» Dust was everywhere in the store, and so was mold. This store repeatedly failed health and safety inspections.
Half the employees at 160 were visibly and openly embarrased about the conditions of their store and the fact that we all had to come to try to bail them out, but the other half had no concern for their store or their job, and it showed in their attitudes and in their workplace.
This was an experience that I never want to repeat, although I can now say that I braved the horrific «Store #160.» It’s one of those stores that I would recommend that you go visit, but just to go slumming, if you’re into that.

Dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty!
(Did I mention it was dirty?)
My mom makes fun of my yen for Publix, saying that «you paid extra for being able to see your reflection on the floor.» Hey Mom, I got just the place for you! Tread marks galore! Food storage that not only doesn’t keep frozen food frozen, but allows the frozen food to melt through the package and hence glue the box to the shelves! Deli food that will certainly give you severe food poisoning! Produce spoiling due to the constant «rainshowers!» And above all, that unidentiably musty smell that NEVER belongs in a grocery store! But hey, at least it’s cheaper than Publix!
Best of all: they shut down the two CLEAN Winn-​Dixies and let this one stay in business. Ironic that their new jingle is «Getting better all the time.» I guess when you’re consistently in violation of health code because your refrigeration doesn’t work, every day you can keep the doors open is in fact ‘getting better,’ but I prefer to stay as un-​poisoned by apple turnovers as possible, thankyouverymuch. 0 stars.