Southeastern Grocers to Move HQ

Southeastern Grocers, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based parent company of Bi-Lo, Harveys and Winn-Dixie, will move its headquarters from the Westside section of the city – and a site that was formerly Winn-Dixie's corporate headquarters before it was acquired in 2012 – to the Prominence office park in Baymeadows, according to a published report.

The move, which will consolidate employees at the Jacksonville Store Support Center and the Astor and Baypine offices, as well as some associates from the Baldwin office, is expected to take place during the first quarter of 2016, although several functions, like the IT Data Center, will remain at the Westside location.

"We continue to make our business more efficient so that we can invest into the things that matter most to our customers," noted Southeastern Grocers President and CEO Ian McLeod in the Jacksonville Daily Record, adding that the remodeled Store Support Center would further unify various departments. According to the grocer, some employees will remain at their current locations.

McLeod said that the Baymeadows office, located within Prominence's four-story, 160,000-square-foot Building 200, would feature a new layout, designed by New York-based RS&H. "All personal offices will be removed, including my own," he explained. "I believe that an open-plan space without offices works far more effectively to break down barriers and encourage face-to-face communication."

The forerunner of the current Winn-Dixie grocery chain has been in Jacksonville since 1944.