Piggly Wiggly Food For Less opens first of three local stores
A new grocery chain has opened the first of three stores in our area. Piggly Wiggly Food for Less is now open in Wetumpka.
It is on U.S. Highway 231 in the former Winn-Dixie, which recently closed.
Shoppers will find a “cost plus 10%” pricing model at Piggly Wiggly Food For Less, with customers paying the store’s cost for items, plus an additional 10% at the register.
Piggly Wiggly Food For Less is a family-owned chain based in Panama City, Florida, that bought three former Winn-Dixie stores in our area.
Winn-Dixie announced last fall that it was pulling out of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and much of Georgia to focus on its home state of Florida. It was a dominant grocery chain in our area for generations, but the number of stores dwindled in recent years due to competition and the company’s two bankruptcies.
Shoppers in Wetumpka are happy that the store didn’t stay closed for long before reopening.
“It’s very convenient because I don’t live far, and this is usually where I stop. This is my store, this is my spot, do you know what I’m saying, it’s the convenience for me and the prices,” shopper Dezzie Settles told Action 8 News.
“Winn-Dixie has been here a long, long time but I’m glad to see somebody else taking up the mantle since Winn-Dixie has got to go,” vendor Don Nelson said.
“I was glad to see Piggly Wiggly come because we need somebody to take the place of Winn-Dixie. I’m glad that they kept everybody because the people here they got a good, loving, caring attitude,” shopper Gary Williamson said.
Piggly Wiggly Food For Less will be opening stores in former Winn-Dixie locations on Vaughn Road and Mobile Highway in Montgomery in the coming weeks. Those stores have already closed for remodeling. Opening dates haven’t yet been announced.
Piggly Wiggly stores are independently owned and operated, so not every store has the same owner or operates under the “cost plus 10%” model. The former Winn-Dixie in Prattville has become a Piggly Wiggly.
Former Winn-Dixie stores in Selma, Auburn and on Carter Hill Road in Montgomery were bought by Aldi and converted to its brand.
Elsewhere, the Winn-Dixie store in Millbrook is having a clearance sale, with the Winn-Dixie in Opelika to follow. Those stores are set to close soon because buyers haven’t been announced.
Winn-Dixie, which turned 100 years old in 2025, will have about 130 stores left following its exit from Alabama and the other states, which had been announced in October. Dozens of remodels and new store projects are both planned and already underway in Florida and southern Georgia. Winn-Dixie says it will remain in the south Georgia cities of Brunswick, Folkston, Lake Park, St. Simons Island and Valdosta.
CLICK HERE to see the list of Winn-Dixie stores in Southeast and who is buying them.
