Because of Winn-Dixie

A slice of Southern Culture is on the skids.

The once ubiquitous Winn-Dixie is pulling out of four Southern states. In order to work its way out of bankruptcy, the chain is slashing more than prices...it's cutting 35% of its stores, thousands of jobs, and its identity.

We only had one or two Winn-Dixies growing up, but I can respect the role they played in the South. In the 60's they were such a stalwart institution, antitrust regulators had to step in and impose a 10 year moratorium on buying new properties. I don't think the chain ever recovered. Stores that were once in vibrant parts of town became dingy and lost clientele during the white flight of the 70s. A new generation of Southerners started grocery shopping, and they weren't around to remember when Winn-Dixie was "The Beef People." They just knew what they wanted and that wasn't a W-D brand steak with a Chek cola (which tastes a lot like Coke if you don't see the label, but now you'll have a harder time "chek"ing that out for yourself).