Winn-Dixie

If you live around here, you know that Publix is the "good" supermarket and that Winn-Dixie is the "bad" supermarket. Publix doesn't require you to have a member card to get the sale prices; Winn-Dixie does. Publix are bigger and have better selection, generally. Publix has BOGO. And in Fort Lauderdale, at least near downtown, Publix has water machines which I need to refill my bottles. The only thing "better" about Winn-Dixie is that they have self-checkout machine, which I prefer. Although the machine voices are annoying, they don't ask you for donations, which they do at Publix.

But when I was picking up some takeout at the It's All Greek to Me! Grill, I noticed that this Winn-Dixie had a water machine, and with an empty bottle in my back seat my plan to stop off at Publix on the way home seemed dubious. I needed some cole slaw mix, so I went inside. This is a huge store, with a large produce section and a large deli section. I found the cole slaw and there was a BOGO sign in front of it. Hmm, I didn't know that Winn-Dixie did BOGO. It's always nice when the item you need is on BOGO. I walked around and got to the fish section; the fresh counter is as bad as all the others in supermarkets, but they have frozen flounder on BOGO, bringing it down to about $5 a pound. Goes good with cole slaw. I also picked up some ERA laundry detergent, not because I needed it, but because it was 40% off and it doesn't go bad, so why not buy it when it's on sale?

I was struck by how many things were on sale; it looks like Winn-Dixie might be turning it around. Sometimes I stop in the one next to Shuck N Dive for a few items; they usually have Red Peppers for 98 cents when they're $3/lb at Publix; I might have to start checking their BOGOs.

If they get some water machines at the downtown locations they might put themselves in the mix; although this is a bigger store than most of the older ones.