By Rick Madewell
Assistant Editor

Poinciana’s Winn-Dixie grocery store has been hit with the economic tide and will close by Sept. 22.

Four other Winn-Dixies in Orange County are facing the same fate as part of a restructuring plan that company executives predict will bring a savings of between $12 million and $17 million a year, according to a news release.

The Poinciana store, 900 Cypress Parkway, opened in 1994.

Jeanette Coughenour, president of the Association of Poinciana Villages, said she was saddened by the news of the Winn-Dixie closing down.

“Anyone I have spoken with is feeling badly that our Winn-Dixie is closing,” she said. “Those of us who were here when they opened in Poinciana as our first grocery store can remember that for this community it was like a New Year’s celebration in Times Square … it was something Poinciana had waited a long time for.”

She said the full picture of today’s economy could be seen with the closing.

“We are truly sorry to see it close and it really drives home the economic challenges facing business today,” she said.

Coughenour added that she did not know of any other business planning to move into the facility.

“But I think everyone would like to see it occupied sooner than later,” she said.

Ramon Garcia was walking out of Winn-Dixie Thursday afternoon with two of his children when he learned the grocery store would be closing.

“I’ve been shopping here (at Winn-Dixie stores) since I was a kid,” he said, adding that he has lived in Poinciana for the past few years and had since shopped only at the community’s Winn-Dixie for groceries.

“This is really bad,” he said.

Garcia, who has a wife and three children, said he was a little unsure of where he would go to shop for groceries when the Winn-Dixie closes.

“If it comes down to it, I may drive over to shop on (U.S. Highway) 192. But I’ll probably do what everyone else does and go to Walmart,” he said. “I go there for other things but I want to go here (Winn-Dixie) for food.”

Another shopper, Iris Gonzalez, of Poinciana, also did not know of the impending closing of the grocer.

“I’ve been shopping here for five years and, yes, it bothers me that it’s going to be closing,” she said.

Her new spot for grocery shopping, she said, would be Publix, directly across Cypress Parkway from the Winn-Dixie.

The Orange County stores scheduled for closing are at 2103 Americana Blvd., 4400 Hoffner Road, 4520 S. Semoran Blvd. and 10537 E. Colonial Drive.