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This year has not been a great one for grocery stores, with chains like Kroger and Safeway closing locations in recent months. Now, the Southeastern grocery chain Winn-Dixie appears to be following in their footsteps, with its parent company planning to sell or possibly shutter 32 Winn-Dixie stores by the end of 2025 as its focus shifts to its home state of Florida. It will also transition or close eight Harveys Supermarket locations. The 40 stores impacted span Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Southeastern Grocers (SEG), the Jacksonville, Florida-based company that owns both chains, posted a list of stores that it will transition, with some identifying new operators such as Piggly Wiggly and Super 1 Foods, and others marked “pending.” It’s unclear which of the pending stores will close and which will transition to new ownership. Reached for comment by Fast Company, SEG reiterated that it has “reached agreements or is advancing plans with multiple grocers.” It said store closures are expected by the end of the year, but did not elaborate. SEG further noted that southern Georgia will maintain stores in Brunswick, Folkston, Lake Park, St. Simons Island, and Valdosta. The company expects the transitions will be completed by early 2026. A new name for a new era SEG announced the transitions and closures alongside news that it will rebrand as the Winn-Dixie Company. The new name will roll out by early 2026. The change honors Winn-Dixies century-long legacy while positioning the grocer for growth through investments designed to modernize stores, enrich the customer experience, and reimagine the neighborhood grocer for the next 100 years, the soon-to-be Winn-Dixie Company stated in a press release. The company is also expanding, despite the divestitures. Its acquiring Hitchcocks Markets in three Florida cities: Alachua, Keystone Heights, and Williston. Each will become a Winn-Dixie, with the Williston location expected to open by the end of the year and the other two locations slated for summer 2026. These new stores and transitions will leave the company with about 130 grocery stores and 140 freestanding liquor stores. SEG is also moving forward with dozens of remodels while growing its liquor store portfolio and its own product offerings. Plus, it will be piloting tools such as third-party delivery and return kiosks.
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E-Commerce
Breakfast has started to get a little riskier. More than six million eggs have been recalled since Sept. 29 over salmonella concerns. This week those concerns grew when the FDA expanded its earlier recall from Arkansas-based Black Sheep Egg Company and elevated the recall to Class I, which describes the highest possible risk to public health. The move follows a string of other recent egg recalls. In August, the FDA announced the recall of large brown cage-free Sunshine Yolks produced by Country Eggs, LLC of Lucerne Valley, California, and sold under the Nagatoshi Produce, Mizuho, and Nijiya Markets brands. Those products reportedly sickened at least 95 people across 14 states. Other recent recalls have also affected Costcos Kirkland brand eggs. Why the uptick in food recalls? If it seems like there has been an uptick in recalls recently, that’s not entirely unfounded. Food recalls have increased by around 20% from 2020 to 2023, according to a Trace One report. However, experts say that much of the reason for a greater number of recalls is because tests are more sensitive to picking up contamination. This heightened sensitivity leads to more recalls, as contamination is identified earlier and more accurately, says Darin Detwiler, LP. D., author of Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions and a professor at Northeastern University. Likewise, food safety regulations have gotten more stringent since the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, which means recalls are triggered more easily. Since the passing of the act, “theres been a huge improvement in food supply regulation,” Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN and author of Health Shots said last year. “Regulations such as all facilities are required to have a preventative control plan, enhanced produce safety rules, and more frequent FDA facility inspections have helped with improvement.” Amidor added, “In addition, facilities must give the FDA access to food safety records, greater authority over imported food, and comply with the agency to issue mandatory recalls.” The growing list of recalled eggs Per the Oct. 20 recall notice, the recall now includes Black Sheep Egg Company brand 12- and 18-count cartons of Free Range Large Grade A Brown Eggs with Best By dates of 8/22/2025 through 10/31/2025. Likewise, Kenz Henz of Santa Fe, Texas recalled its 12-count containers of “Grade AA Large Pasture Raised eggs”, which came from Black Sheep Egg Company over possible contamination. The affected cartons are marked with UPC code 86949400030, Julian dates 241244 and 246247, with best-by dates of October 11th through the 14th and October 16th and 17th. The FDA also said that the eggs have been distributed to other companies in Arkansas and Missouri from July 9 through Sept. 17, and said some of the products may have been repackaged. The notice explained that the list will be updated as the FDA receives new information with the potential for more products to be added to the recall list. The updated recall comes after salmonella was found at the company’s processing facility in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas in late September. During the inspection, 40 environmental samples tested positive for salmonella, including seven different strains of the bacteria. Per the announcement, the “FDA does not have information available at this time to suggest that this firm is the source of an ongoing outbreak. “ Black Sheep Egg Company said in a Facebook post that while the FDAs tested non-food contact surfaces which found salmonella, however, the eggs “tested negative for salmonella and showed no signs of contamination. The post continued, Out of an abundance of caution and with the safety of our consumers in mind, we made the proactive decision to initiate a voluntary recall on certain lots of eggs.” The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that Salmonella causes “about 1.35 million illnesses, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths” per year in the U.S.
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E-Commerce
It doesn’t look like a Rivian truck, but a new electric bike took shape at the EV company. A startup called Also, which spun out from the EV maker earlier this year and raised $105 million, launched the $4,500 e-bike today, along with a delivery quad for logistics companies and another four-wheeler that consumers could use instead of a typical cargo bike. [Photo: Also] The idea sparked three years ago, after Rivian founder RJ Scaringe met with Chris Yu, head of product and innovation at the bike brand Specialized. We connected over a really basic question, which is: why doesn’t that magical experience that you get out of a Rivian exist in anything smaller than a car? says Yu. Scaringe had long believed that the EV companys approachdesigning its own software and hardware and building a vehicle from scratchwould also make sense for e-bikes and other forms of micromobility. [Photo: Also] We saw this huge transformation that had happened in the electric car space, Yu says. Early electric cars were mostly conversions that replaced a gas motor with an electric motor and batteries, so the driving experience didnt change much. Then came companies like Tesla and Rivian. These pure play, vertically integrated, ground-up EV companies took the approach of, well, if we have the ability to craft the software, the electronics, the hardware from a clean slate, you can design an ownership and user experience that is just fundamentally different in almost every way, he says. In 2022, Yu helped start a skunkworks inside Rivian to explore how smaller EVs could follow the same clean-slate approachan idea that would eventually lead to a new kind of e-bike. [Photo: Adam Wells/Also] An interchangeable design The first difference with the new bike, called the TM-B (or “transcendent mobility” bike), is that it can convert to different forms. At the push of a button, the top frame can be unlocked and swapped with a cargo bike seat with a sturdy rack for carrying groceries or children. It can also be swapped for a different size, so more than one rider can easily share the same bike. Another attachment makes the bike more like a scooter, with a low bench seat. [Photo: Also] The designers wanted to tackle a common pain point for anyone considering an electric bike: there are so many different options on the market that it can be difficult to choose. “I was just talking to my neighbor about thisthey were thinking about buying a utility bike for carrying their kid to school, but they looked at all these utility bikes and thought they don’t look that fun to ride,” Yu says. Buyers can get stuck trying to decide between a utility bike and a fun weekend bike and not end up getting anything. “Or end up like me, with 10 bikes in their garage,” he says. Instead of buying multiple bikes, Also’s system allows them to get less-expensive attachments. If a couple wants to have an e-bike as an extra vehicle for running errands, they can get two sizes to fit each person. Like a car, you can use your phone to unlock the bike as you approach it. If the bike has multiple riders, it automatically recognizes who you are and your preferences, from whether you want to manually shift to your destinations in the navigation system. [Photo: Adam Wells/Also] Pedal by wire Like electric cars and trucks, which use a “drive by wire” designmeaning that the accelerator pedal isn’t mechanically connected to the wheels, but s just a sensorthe bike uses a “pedal by wire” approach. “It’s fully software defined,” says Yu. “What that means is there is zero mechanical connection between you pedaling the cranks and what the motor is telling the wheel to do.” When you pedal, the pedals feel like an ordinary bike, but the ride is much smoother, he says. The default mode is automatic, so a rider doesn’t have to figure out how to shift and adjust the amount of pedal assist that they’re getting, though that option exists. (When you shift, the bike gives haptic feedback so it feels like a gear is shifting.) The bike has roughly twice as much torque as most other e-bikes, so it’s easier to quickly accelerate to join traffic or change lanes. [Photo: Bryson Malone/Also] On a hill, the bike offers “hill flattening,” meaning that it automatically feels like riding on a road that’s less steep, or even completely flat. Going downhill, the bike can also automatically flatten the ride so you can keep pedaling and regenerate the battery. Unlike most e-bikes, 90% of the time that you’re braking, that happens through regenerative braking. “It’s much more akin to a modern electric car experience, where the braking experience is much more consistent, much more reliable, and importantly, the brake pad service life is dramatically longer than otherwise would be,” Yu says. [Photo: Also] An approachable design The bike doesn’t look like a Rivian truck, apart from a similarly shaped light. But “the underlying principles are very shared,” says Yu. “We’re sibling brands that have a common fabric.” The design team tried to balance performance and approachability, he says. “We wanted something that was very welcoming, very simple, geometrically . . . As capable and high-performance as it is, we don’t want it to be precious, either. We want it to be easy and part of your family’s life.” The team carefully considered each detail of the bike, from integrated turn signals in the frame to a security system that locks everything, including the wheels, when you walk away. (If the bike is stolen, you can track it on an app and remotely disable the whole thing until you get it back.) A custom navigation system, shown in a small touchscreen on the handlebars, shows bike-specific directions and how much range you have left on the battery. The bike has two options for power banksone that can give you up to 100 miles of range, depending on how much you’re using pedal assist, and a smaller option with up to 60 miles of range. The power bank can also be pulled out of the bike and used to quickly charge a laptop or anything else that plugs into USB-C. [Photo: Also] The startup also designed a few accessories, including a helmet that has noise-cancelling microphones so you can take a phone call as you ride. “We tuned the audio experience such that you can be riding at 25 miles an hour, take a phone call, and the other person will not know, will not have any idea that you’re riding on a bike with wind noise,” says Yu. A custom pannier is precisely sized to fit a grocery bag from Trader Joe’s. All of this comes at a price. The TM-B Performance, the premium version of the bike, will be $4,500 when it launches next spring. The company hasn’t yet announced the price of the basic version of the bike, but says that it will be less than $4,000. Accessories and additional top frames add to the cost. By contrast, a budget e-bike might cost less than $1,000. But Also’s models are well within the range of other high-end bikes, some of which can cost more than $10,000. [Photo: Adam Wells/Also] Beyond the bike Like Rivian EVs, which have a “skateboard” under the vehicle with the battery and other tech that can be used across multiple trucks or cars, the bike’s basic technology can be used in other vehicles. The startup also designed a four-wheeled cargo bike, or quad, that can be used for deliveries in dense cities. From the outside, it looks similar to the pedal-assist EVs that UPS, Amazon, DHL, and other companies are already using in some areas. But Yu says that Also’s vertical integration makes it easier to connect with the software that logistics companies use for features like route optimization. The vehicle is also designed from the groud up for durability, so it can last far longer than typical delivery quads. The design will launch later in 2026, along with a simplified consumer version of the same vehicle. The company also announced today that it’s partnering with Amazon on a custom version of the delivery vehicle that the retail giant could use in its dozens of micromobility hubs across Europe and the U.S. The same basic technology that went into the bike and quads could also be used in other vehicles. It could eventually help electrify other small vehicles, like mopeds or motorcycles, that are more common than cars in countries outside the U.S. The transition to electric “can really be accelerated if we can deliver experiences that aren’t just electric, but they’re just fundamentally better product experiences that happen to be electric,” Yu says.
Category:
E-Commerce
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