SaveRite

SaveRite was a U.S. chain of discount warehouse-style grocery stores owned by Winn-Dixie. The store offered a smaller selection and less customer support than most grocery stores.

SaveRite was designed to offer lower prices on a smaller selection of food by offering items in bulk, eliminating baggers and carry-out services, and removing many in-store services. The stores also had offerings that catered to their local markets, with some providing more services than others.[1][2]

The chain's marketing was based on its mascot Captain SaveRite, who is shown as a cartoon super-hero resembling Captain America.

History

Winn-Dixie created the SaveRite brand as an experiment, with the first location opening in Orlando, Florida in October 2000.[3][4] In March 2001, the nine Gooding's stores based in Orlando, Florida that the company had acquired the year prior were converted to the SaveRite banner.[5][6] In November, Winn-Dixie announced plans to convert nearly all of its Winn-Dixie and Winn-Dixie Marketplace brand stores in the metro Atlanta area into SaveRite locations in an effort to keep a hold on its market share,[7][8][9] which was rapidly declining due to stiff competition from Wal-Mart, Publix, Kroger, Food Lion, and Target.[10] The conversions began in earnest in 2002, with the company looking to fill the void left when Cub Foods left the area.[11]

By 2003, the company had converted 43 locations in Atlanta, nine sites in Florida, and eight locations in Mississippi to the SaveRite banner.[12] In June 2004, SaveRite opened a 55,000-square-foot store in Melbourne, Florida, offering a pharmacy, deli, full-service bakery, expanded produce and meat departments, a customer service booth, and extensive Hispanic and Caribbean foods selections.[13]

However, when Winn-Dixie filed for bankruptcy in February 2005, the company announced that more than 300 stores, including SaveRite locations, would close.[14][15] As part of these cuts, it was announced that SaveRite would exit the Atlanta area.[16] By July, SuperValu was seeking to acquire 27 of the 40 SaveRite supermarkets in the Atlanta market.[17]

Winn-Dixie began redesigning its SaveRite stores by cutting prices and adding in-store services. The first store opened in January 2009. By this time, there were three Save-Rite locations in Jacksonville, five in Orlando, and three in Mississippi.[18][19][20] A second redesigned store opened in March 2010.[20][21]

On August 18, 2011, Winn Dixie announced it was discontinuing the SaveRite name and converting its six remaining stores to the Winn-Dixie banner, while a seventh store was closed.[22][23]