Winn-Dixie was founded by William Milton Davis and his sons in Burley, Idado in 1914. Davis bought a general stores which he renamed to Davis Mercantile.
In 1925, Davis borrowed $10,000 (about $125,000 in today’s dollars) from his father, moved to Miami, Florida and purchased Rockmoor Grocery. Two years later, the business was renamed to Table Supply and 4 additional stores were opened.
In 1933, 33 additional stores were added with the purchased of Lively Stores chain for $10,000. William Davis died the following year.
In 1939, William’s sons bought 51% of Winn-Lovett, a 73 store chain. In 1944, the brothers adopted Winn-Lovett as the company name and moved the corporate office to Jacksonville, Florida. More acquisitions followed in the 40s and 50s and Winn-Lovett went public in 1952.
The company continued to grow through acquisitions up until the 2000’s.
In 2005, the company went into bankruptcy and planned to close over 300 stores. In 2011, the company was purchased by BI-LO.
There are currently 485 Winn-Dixie branded stores in the US, mostly operating in the South. The Winn-Dixie corporate office is still located in Jacksonville.
