Getting prescriptions filled at the local Winn Dixie pharmacy will no longer be an option for Plant City residents because on Oct. 19 the store is winding down its pharmacy business. That’s because Aldi’s deal to buy Southeastern Grocers stores did not include the pharmacy business.
According to a Southeastern Grocers spokesperson: “We remain committed to protecting the health and wellness of our customers and communities until the transactions are finalized, and our pharmacy customers will be provided sufficient advance notice seven to 10 days prior to the transfer. We are working closely with CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens to ensure our customers’ prescriptions are handled carefully and confidently and there won’t be any delay in service.”
Winn Dixie pharmacy customers in Plant City will have their prescriptions transferred to Walgreens.
For long-time Winn Dixie pharmacy customer April Newton, it puts her and her husband in a predicament. She’s only aware of one other location, a clinic on Baker Street, that accepts her insurance and has had a hard time filling her prescriptions there in the past. “We’re going to have to get with our insurance company and find out where we can go,” she said.
Plant City resident Loyd Ealy, a Winn Dixie pharmacy customer for nine years, learned about the prescription transfer a month ago. “The communication with the pharmacists has been great and they have told us what they know which isn’t much,” he said.
He’s not sure about the Walgreens pharmacy but is willing to give them a try. “We’ll use them but the last time we did it was an issue trying to fill medication,” he said. “We truly are concerned about this switch over and dreading it.”
The announcement about the pharmacy closures comes on the heels of an August 16 announcement by Southeastern Grocers, the company that owns Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores, that it planned to sell Winn-Dixie to Aldi in early 2024.
According to an Aldi spokesperson: “We’re working through the details on store conversions and will be very thoughtful around which stores we’ll convert to ALDI and which will remain as Winn-Dixie and Harvey’s Supermarket stores. While a significant amount of Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores will convert to the ALDI format over the course of several years, a meaningful amount will continue to operate under their respective banners. As is typical in retail footprint planning, many factors will go into what will be a multi-year conversion process, including local market dynamics like population density and availability of other grocery options, traffic patterns and most importantly, customer need.”
It’s unknown if Winn-Dixie in Plant City is on the conversion list. The companies will continue to operate independently until the transaction closes.