Jacksonville is reviewing a build-out permit for an Aldi at 703 Chaffee Road S., the site of a former Winn-Dixie.
Permit filings indicate that Aldi is planned for the former supermarket property.
Aldi has separately received a permit for a tenant build-out at the site.
A Store With Deep Westside Roots
The Chaffee Road building formerly operated under the Winn-Dixie banner. The former supermarket is planned for Aldi's use.
How Other Former Winn-Dixie Stores Are Being Reused
Other former Winn-Dixie buildings have followed different paths. Jacksonville.com reported in August 2024 that permits suggested a possible Winn-Dixie-to-Aldi conversion at 1545 County Road 220 in Fleming Island, unlike the Chaffee Road Aldi plan. The same report said a closed Winn-Dixie in Lakeland was expected to reopen as Aldi within four to six months, without a second retailer identified for the building. The Chaffee Road project also fits into a broader retail-property pattern, although the available market data do not specifically attribute that trend to former Winn-Dixie stores. According to JLL Research, Aldi was the fastest-growing grocer in 2024, adding more than 2.3 million square feet through 105 new openings. In Jacksonville, Colliers reported a 4.6% retail vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2025 alongside 437,391 square feet of positive net absorption.
Aldi's 2024 purchase of Southeastern Grocers included Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores, and the discount grocer planned to convert many of them to its own brand. Aldi has kept about 220 of those stores for conversion.
Winn-Dixie's Own Ownership Shuffle
The stores Aldi didn't keep went to a private-investor consortium led by then-Southeastern Grocers CEO Anthony Hucker in February 2025. That entity rebranded from Southeastern Grocers last fall, and in October 2025 it said it was shedding most of its stores outside Florida to focus on its home state, while retaining some supermarkets in south Georgia.
Why One Former Supermarket Can Fit Two Tenants
The split reflects the different footprints typically used by the two grocery formats. As Hoodline previously reported, an Aldi generally needs about 19,000 to 22,000 square feet, while a traditional Winn-Dixie occupied roughly 40,000 to 52,000 square feet. That leaves room in some former supermarkets for another value-oriented retailer.
The Chaffee Road conversion also echoes other recent moves around Jacksonville. Aldi has also converted a former Winn-Dixie in Neptune Beach. Meanwhile, city leaders have worked to keep Winn-Dixie's headquarters in Jacksonville even as its store count shrinks — the Jacksonville City Council approved a $12 million incentive package to keep the company's headquarters, which the company moved to Jacksonville in 1944, in place.
