Looking for spaghetti at the Winn-Dixie? It’s no longer where it used to be. Neither are the pickles, nuts, or juices, all of which are in very different locations at the Key Biscayne Winn-Dixie.
The sweeping change late last month at the island’s only supermarket has — temporarily at least — sent shoppers going backward and forward as they search for staples like ketchup, mayonnaise and salad dressing. (They’re now on aisle 9, taking the place of pasta, which is now on aisle 6).
It was such a big change that Winn-Dixie store managers were handing out a chart showing where items had moved.
This chart is being handed out to shoppers to help them navigate aisle changes at the Key Biscayne Winn Dixie in November, 2025. (Winn Dixie via KBI)
Why such a switch? It’s part of improving the shopping experience, the supermarket says.
“The recent changes at our Key Biscayne location are part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the shopping experience by offering a more convenient layout and updated assortment that better aligns with the needs of our local customers,” said Winn-Dixie spokeswoman Miranda Anderson.
Anderson wrote in a statement that another goal is to expand the wine department to offer more choices.
But the process of figuring out shopper preferences is a complicated one that mixes data analytics and the psychology of shopping to determine supermarket aisle placement, an expert said.
“If you don’t make it easy for the shopper, then they’re going to, at the end of the day, buy and spend less, or they might not even go to your store at all,” said Ernest Baskin, an associate professor and chair of the and Food, Pharma and Healthcare Department at Saint Joseph’s University.
He said big chains like Aldi, which owns Winn-Dixie, can use various technologies to monitor the speed and flow of how people cruise the aisles, ranging from RFID chips (little radio transmitters) attached to shopping carts to having a system that pings the Wi-Fi on people’s smartphones.
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“The phone will send back its location,” allowing managers to “determine where in the store the person is and how they’re moving,” he said.
He continued: “We know that there’s science saying, hey, stuff on end caps sells more than stuff that’s not on end caps, stuff at eye level,” he said. And in turn, suppliers pay extra to have their products stocked at the prime locations.
All of that is necessary, Baskin said, because of the tight margins in the grocery business.
“A store’s margin is a penny, usually a penny or two on a dollar and that’s nothing, right? And so their goal at the end of the day is to make the experience the best it can possibly be for as many consumers.”
What’s the best strategy for shoppers? Look at the unit pricing and read the labels carefully — and have a plan before you enter to focus on what matters to you.
“The psychology is only at the margin. As soon as you start engaging in effortful decision making, it has much less effect on you.”
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Editor-in-Chief
Tony Winton is the editor-in-chief of the Key Biscayne Independent and president of Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. He worked previously at The Associated Press for three decades winning multiple Edward R. Murrow awards. He was president of the News Media Guild, a journalism union, for 10 years. Born in Chicago, he is a graduate of Columbia University. His interests are photography and technology, sailing, cooking, and science fiction.