By the time the Winn-Dixie — Immokalee's only full-service supermarket — shut down, the shelves had been picked bare and the standard groceries for families were no longer there.
That was Oct. 25, when Winn-Dixie opened one last day for Immokalee residents. It will one day be replaced with an Aldi. The rollouts from Winn-Dixie to Aldi are to be finalized in 2027.
When residents learned the town's only supermarket would not immediately be replaced, they panicked and turned to social media — specifically their County Commissioner Bill McDaniel.
He responded along with the Collier Community Foundation when it agreed to a 50-50 partnership to create a dedicated bus route to the next closest similar supermarket. That's a small Publix store located in Ave Maria. A bus ride there takes between 15 and 20 minutes.
McDaniel explained his wishes during a commission meeting just days after the closure:
The buses would run twice on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from the parking lot at the shuttered Winn-Dixie.
McDaniel said he wanted routes to take Immokalee shoppers to other normal-sized Publix stores as well so not to overwhelm the small Publix in Ave Maria.
Days later, everything was set. Or so McDaniel thought.
On Friday morning, Oct. 31, the first bus sat empty. The same thing happened for the Friday night run. The two anticipated runs on Saturday and Sunday went the same way. No riders.
"So, so nobody showed up to ride on the bus?" said a stunned McDaniel after being told by WGCU News on Wednesday.
He was also stunned to learn from WGCU News that the bus also wasn’t waiting at the closed Winn-Dixie, as he directed the transportation department to do. Instead, the bus sat empty and waiting more than two miles away at the Immokalee bus transfer station.
"Now, the thing you're, you said to me, Eileen, (that's) a little disconcerting ... the route is supposed to run from the parking lot at Winn Dixie, not at the transfer station," he said.
McDaniel said that wasn't the agreement.
"I'll see what I can do to get that corrected, because I was very specific in the meeting last Tuesday that it was going to run from the parking lot Winn Dixie at two times a day, Friday, Saturday and Sunday."
What happens next remains to be seen. McDaniel said he would make some calls. WGCU News has requested additional information from the county as well.
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