Winn-Dixie | South Pasadena, FL

6851 Gulfport Blvd. S.

Welcome to the South Pasadena Winn-Dixie!

Obviously, the Sunshine State isn't always the best nickname for Florida. The weather was definitely not very nice at the South Pasadena Winn-Dixie when I visited last May. But it's OK, because the store itself is incredibly interesting! There's a reason that Albertsons Florida Blog has nicknamed it the Family Choice 'n Karry Sweet-Dixie. Before we go inside, let's review the store's very convoluted history. The first supermarket to operate in this building was The Family Mart, which opened its first Florida location here on February 14, 1978. The Family Mart was the new Southeast division of A&P, a chain we're quite familiar with on the blog; the store opened not long after A&P closed its locations in  Pinellas County. This came at a time when A&P was experimenting with a number of new store names, including Plus and SuperFresh in addition to The Family Mart. In 1987, the Florida locations were sold to Kroger, which renamed them to a new banner, Florida Choice. That was far more short-lived, and Kash n' Karry (a chain actually based in Florida) bought all of this area's locations in 1988. Sometime between 2004 and 2007, this store became Sweetbay Supermarket, the new name for Kash n' Karry that owner Delhaize slowly rolled out across Florida. In 2013, as Sweetbay winded down operations, this store and 71 other locations were sold to Bi-Lo Holdings and converted to Winn-Dixie in 2014. Now the nickname kind of makes sense, right? Well, I'm ready to get out of the pouring rain, so let's go inside! And did I mention that the decor is still from Sweetbay??

The neighborhood deli and bake shop are to our left after entering the store. The decor doesn't look too dated in this shot, but it really is over 20 years old! This is what the store was remodeled to whenever it converted from Kash n' Karry to Sweetbay in the mid-2000s. To see a Winn-Dixie with a much newer decor package, check out New Smyrna Beach -- the only other one I've ever been to!

The produce market continues the grand aisle on the left side of the store. The department has obviously been downsized in recent years, with bread now under one of the "Produce Market" signs. Either that or Winn-Dixie has a very loose definition of produce.

Fresh dairy is in the corner. I really like this decor, honestly! It's definitely 2000s-styled, but I think it's somewhat timeless. It isn't in terrible condition, either.

The seafood and meat departments are side-by-side on the back wall. The "Beef People" sign above the meat counter is one of the few changes Winn-Dixie made upon moving into the store. Obviously, Sweetbay wouldn't have dared to call themselves that! Although, WD did make it fit right into decor that they didn't even design.

From this angle, the store doesn't look like it was ever anything but a Winn-Dixie! These aisle markers are from the chain's newest decor package. They were installed in 2023 shortly after Winn-Dixie's sale to Aldi was announced (thanks Albertsons Florida Blog for that information!).

"Lunchmeat" follows the service meat counter on the back wall. I always find it interesting to see what grocery stores will call this section. They could say "Packaged Meats," "Lunch Meat," "Deli Meat," or even "Cold Cuts" in the Northeast. I've never seen "lunchmeat" as one word, though. Anyway... that white wall to the right is where the pharmacy was. All Winn-Dixie Pharmacy locations closed by the end of 2023. Kind of an odd place for a pharmacy, in my opinion. I do know that this store had a pharmacy going all the way back to when it was The Family Mart, but I don't know how much of their original layout still exists today.

The right side of the store is home to the HABA department. When Albertsons Florida Blog went to this store a few years ago, there was signage that said "Heath and Beuty." Obviously Winn-Dixie has since realized it isn't worth keeping that decaying sign on the wall. So now we just have pictures of people being healthy and beautiful!

The large customer service counter is in the front corner on this side. There's an alternative entrance to the store near here, too.

And a look at the checkout lanes along the front end as we leave this store. It seems like the "Thank You for Shopping" is from Sweetbay, and "your neighborhood Winn-Dixie" is from, well, you know who. But that could be completely and totally wrong.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2026

Here you can see that side entrance.

2009

And here you can see the store when it was a Sweetbay. As you can see, the logo is somewhat similar to Hannaford, another Delhaize-owned chain in New England.

That's all there is to say about this store! At least in the context of how it was when I took these pictures in May 2025. According to an August article from local newsmagazine St. Pete Rising, this store will be converted to Aldi in the near future. Aldi acquired Winn-Dixie back in 2024, with plans to convert many locations to their own name and format. More recently, Aldi sold the Winn-Dixie brand and 170 locations back to a new company called The Winn-Dixie Company, while retaining the remaining stores (including this one). With that being said, I'm really glad that I was able to see this store and its old decor, which Aldi obviously will not be keeping. Thank you for reading! DelValRetail: Bring More Good Home.