C&S to Take Over Winn-Dixie Distribution

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Bi-Lo Holding, parent company of Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, said Tuesday that it has reached a long-term agreement under which Keene, N.H.-based C&S Wholesale Grocers will provide warehouse, transportation and most procurement services for all 480 Winn-Dixie stores and continue providing services to all 206 Bi-Lo stores.

“We believe this deal will allow us to leverage the experience and buying power of C&S so that we can continue to reinvest in our company and focus on selling great products at a good value to our customers,” Randall Onstead, president and chief executive officer of Bi-Lo, said in a statement.

By the end of the year, Winn-Dixie’s six distribution centers — located in Baldwin, Jacksonville, Miami and Orlando, Fla.; Montgomery, Ala.; and Hammond, La. — and the functions that support them will be transitioned. Bi-Lo said C&S intends to operate the facilities as they are, with minimal change to existing workers or their wages and benefits. As each distribution center is transitioned over to C&S, the workers will become employees of C&S.

“We thank our Winn-Dixie distribution center associates for their contributions over the years,” added Onstead. “While we are saying goodbye to them as part of the Winn-Dixie family, we are very pleased that this transition provides them with continued employment. In addition, they will provide C&S with the knowledge and experience needed for a smooth transition."

“C&S is very excited about extending its eight-year relationship with Bi-Lo to include the Winn-Dixie stores and to further extending our presence in the South. We are proud to be a part of the ongoing transformation of the Bi-Lo Winn-Dixie business and look forward to welcoming the many Winn-Dixie associates to the C&S family,” said Rick Cohen, C&S chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.

C&S has provided procurement, warehouse and transportation services for Bi-Lo since 2005. The new agreement covers both the Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie banners across the companywide network of nearly 700 stores.