Jacksonville-based supermarket chain Winn-Dixie is being sold for $560 million to Bi-Lo LLC, the companies said Monday, creating a large grocery operator in the South. Together the new company will have about 690 grocery stores and 63,000 employees in eight states. Here's a look at Winn-Dixie through the years:
1925: W.M. Davis and his four sons, J.E., A.D., M. Austin and Tine W. Davis, open a grocery store in Miami.
1934: W.M. Davis dies. His two oldest sons, J.E. and A.D., each inherit 33 percent of the company. The two younger brothers each inherit 17 percent.
1939: The Davis brothers acquire the 70-store Winn & Lovett Grocery Co. and relocate their company headquarters to Jacksonville.
1955: After the acquisition of the Dixie-Home Market chain, Winn & Lovett Grocery Co. becomes Winn-Dixie.
1977: The St. Petersburg Times names J.E. Davis one of the 10 most powerful men in Florida.
1993: J.E. Davis dies at 85. His son, A. Dano Davis, succeeds him as company chairman and principal executive officer.
1998: Winn-Dixie stock price hits a peak at $59.38 per share.
2001: Winn-Dixie hits a peak of 1,153 stores in five southern states and the Bahamas.
2004: As sales begin to decline and the company closes stores, Peter Lynch is named the company's fourth president in six years.
2005: Winn-Dixie files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February. Bankruptcy wipes out the value of all stock in the company, ending the Davis family's ownership.
2006: In November, Winn-Dixie emerges from bankruptcy. The corporation is allowed to begin issuing 54.5 million shares of new stock to creditors.
2007: Despite having gone through bankruptcy, Winn-Dixie remains a Fortune 500 company, ranking 305th with $7.878 billion in revenue in 2006.
2011: Bi-Lo LLC, a grocery store chain based in Greenville, S.C., agrees to purchase the Winn-Dixie chain for $560 million.
