Panic spread across Immokalee in October after residents learned their only full-fledged supermarket site was closing. The closure effectively makes the community a food desert, at least until the shuttered Winn-Dixie is eventually replaced by an Aldi.
Social media shortly thereafter was filled with people asking Collier County Commissioner Bill McDaniel for help because a majority of Immokalee Winn-Dixie shoppers walked to the store or rode their bicycles.
With the Winn-Dixie gone, the next closest grocery is easily a 20-minute car ride away in Ave Maria. For people without bicycles, that’s about a three hour walk — each way.
A week after the late October closure, McDaniel — with the help of the Collier Community Foundation — provided a dedicated bus to take shoppers from the shuttered Winn-Dixie to one of three Publix grocery stores much further inland.
But after weeks of service, only one person took advantage of the free bus ride to a Publix. Recently the decision was made to end the good-will gesture.
“We can only do what we can do," said McDaniel. "... We were just trying to help the
community.”
McDaniel isn’t taking it personally but suspects all the recent immigration raids have something to do with it.
More than 200 Winn Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores in Florida and the Southeast U.S. are slated to be replaced by Aldi stores. When that will happen in Immokalee is unknown. The entire roll-out is expected to be completed sometime in 2027.
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.
