What’s so sinful about that?” In any event, through the rest of the decade Winn-Dixie managed to maintain this balance, as described by the New York Times in 1979: “Winn-Dixie, (is) the nation’s fourth largest supermarket chain (behind Safeway, Kroger and A&P) and one of its most successful, with profits above industry average”. Winn-Dixie makes more money than most, yet manages to keep employees, customer and even stockholders happy. In an October 1973 full page article, Forbes magazine came to the company’s defense: “.profits, properly speaking, are created by efficient management, not by greed Greed has never been known to create anything. Because of Winn-Dixie’s industry leading profits, they felt more heat than most. Suddenly, supermarket chain profits became the stuff of headlines, and often as not, companies were portrayed in an unflattering light. Most major grocery chains were unaccustomed to the new scrutiny that came along with the “consumers’ movement” of the 1970’s. The 23 Foodway stores were sold to Smith Management Co., operator of the “Smith’s Food King” supermarkets, which years later would become a division of Kroger. Two years later, Winn-Dixie would sell off its New Mexico stores due to problems with the local unions. ![]() A twenty-unit drugstore chain owned by Kimbell, called “Thrifty”, was not part of the deal. The stores operated under the Buddies, Foodway and Hagee names. In August of that year, the company bought out Fort Worth, Texas-based Kimbell, Inc., gaining 135 stores in three states new to Winn-Dixie – Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. The biggest news of the era for Winn-Dixie came in 1976, when the government imposed 10-year ban on acquisitions finally came to an end. Competition in the Atlanta area was fierce, prompting a brief return to issuing trading stamps (Top Value this time around) in 1978. Although the Atlanta division would grow impressively, not quite doubling in size over the next ten years, it would remain one of the company’s smaller operations. Initially, the new region was comprised of thirty-one stores peeled off from the Montgomery division and eight from the Greenville division. The company started the decade with the formation of a new division – in Atlanta (to include the North Georgia and Chattanooga areas), where Winn-Dixie had maintained a presence for just over ten years by that time. (I actually prefer James Lileks’ one word slogan – “Mmmmmmeat!”)įor the most part, the 1970’s saw a continuation of Winn-Dixie’s success. “The Beef People” is a phrase that continues to be associated with Winn-Dixie, even though it long ago ceased to be company’s tagline. In Winn-Dixie’s case, beef wasn’t just on the front page of their ads, but on the front of their stores, in slogan form at least. Modern weekly grocery ads, for example, typically show attractively cooked and garnished steaks, prominently placed on the front page. Uncooked, no less – a practice that thankfully is rarely (no pun intended) the case in supermarket advertising today. Instead of the exit number for the nearest Holiday Inn, or a pitch for a tourist attraction such as Weeki Wachee Springs, we see a great big steak, the stock-in-trade of Winn-Dixie and Kwik Chek supermarkets. Lewis is proud of the fact that Checkers is the only Local, Home Owned, Home Operated, Family Grocery Store in Lawrence.A billboard flies past as cars streak down the highway at night, sometime in 1970. Now Lewis’ passion is providing his customers the very best quality, local and fresh products at the lowest possible prices and having fun doing it each and every day. I feel very fortunate to have these relationships,” he said. Lewis said several employees have worked with him since 1992, when he owned Rusty’s IGA. This is one of the things I like best about doing business in this community.”Ĭheckers employs approximately 120 people. “Lawrence still has a small-town atmosphere and I know a lot of our customers personally. ![]() Years later I had the opportunity to come back to Lawrence and purchase the stores,” Lewis said, remembering his start in the grocery business. “I walked into Rusty’s IGA at Ninth and Iowa when I was 19 and applied for a job I needed to have while attending KU. Checkers has been a family affair since 1987.įamily and community are two consistent themes in the life of Jim Lewis.
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