J&J buying Gainesville Winn-Dixie

GAINESVILLE - J&J Foods is buying the Winn-Dixie Store on Limestone Parkway, one of several the grocery store giant is closing.

J&J President, Darrell Wiley confirmed Tuesday's plans are in the works to take over the store later this week.

Wiley says he's been on the lookout for a second Hall County site for some time, but the right fit had just not come along until now.

He says the store will close Thursday, inventory will be taken over the next few days, J&J signs will go up, and he hopes to have the store open by the middle of next week - if not earlier in the week. Wiley says, however, the supermarket bank inside the store and the pharmacy will remain open during the transition.

Unlike Winn-Dixie, which is a 24-hour-a-day operation, J&J will be closed at night and on Sundays, according to Wiley.

Wiley said J&J's existing stores - on Jewell Parkway in Gainesville and in Dahlonega - will remain open. The Jewell Parkway store was the first to open - 30 years ago - on the site, ironically, of a closed Winn-Dixie.