A landmark Winn-Dixie store that has been a strip mall anchor since 1960 when it originally opened as a Kwik Chek is about to rebrand again.
The Bird Ludlam Shopping Center Winn-Dixie is closing in early August, Meredith Hurley, senior director of communications and community for Winn-Dixie said in an email to the Miami Herald. The closing is part of a 2024 Aldi deal with the Jacksonville chain that has led to dozens of conversions.
“All associates at this location received advance notice, and Winn-Dixie is working closely with Aldi to support a smooth transition,” Hurley said. “Associates will have the first opportunity to apply for roles at the new Aldi.”
The Aldi doesn’t have an opening date yet. The remodeling usually takes about a year to complete.
A similar conversion of the Winn-Dixie anchoring the nearby Sunset West strip mall on Sunset Drive and 87th Avenue that began in 2025 is nearing completion. That new Aldi is across the street from the former 70-year-old family-owned Sunset Corners liquor store that was sold in 2024 to another local family and reopened as Jensen’s Sunset Corners.
Signs for a new Aldi store in the space of a reconfigured Winn-Dixie store at the Sunset West shopping center at Sunset Drive and 87th Avenue went up in December 2025. The converted Aldi is nearing completion almost a year later. Howard Cohen hcohen@miamiherald.com
Last fall, the parent company of Winn-Dixie rebranded from Southeastern Grocers to The Winn-Dixie Company and retained more than 100 of its stores, which it planned to remodel and focus on its Florida home state. Dozens of stores in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi were marked for shutdown in 2025.
READ MORE: Winn-Dixie rebrands with a Florida focus. What does this mean for your Miami store?
“While the first wave of new stores and remodels is concentrated in North Florida, South Florida remains an essential part of our long-term growth plan,” Hurley said in an email to the Herald last November about the corporate rebrand.
Winn-Dixie acknowledged last year that not all of its Florida stores would escape the initial Aldi conversion the Miami area is seeing with its Bird and Sunset locations.
“Winn-Dixie remains committed to serving customers across Florida and southern Georgia, with a continued focus on providing the quality, value and fresh offerings communities have trusted for generations,” Hurley said on Thursday in an email.
That Bird-Ludlam Winn-Dixie was remodeled and reopened with an updated produce department in August 2018. The outdated Sunset Drive Winn-Dixie was also remodeled not long before it closed to convert to an Aldi.
Until it bids farewell in a week or so, customers, like Ileana Reyes, are taking advantage of 40% off clearance sales at the Bird location, she posted on the neighborhood social media app Nextdoor.
“Lots of ice cream, frozen foods and chocolates!!” Reyes posted. “Have a blessed week.”
The 1960s era Winn Dixie at 6770 Bird Road was remodeled in 2018. The store will be closing in August 2026 and reopening as an Aldi. Winn Dixie
Miami Herald
Miami Herald consumer trends reporter Howard Cohen, a 2017 Media Excellence Awards winner, has covered pop music, theater, health and fitness, obituaries, municipal government, breaking news and general assignment. He started his career in the Features department at the Miami Herald in 1991. Cohen is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Communication.
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