Associated PressJacksonville, FL -- Bankrupt supermarket giant Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. announced Friday it has reached preliminary agreements worth $38.7 million to sell 79 of its stores to 20 buyers who plan to continue operating them as grocery or liquor stores.
In motions filed in federal bankruptcy court, Winn-Dixie said the agreements are preliminary and could be replaced by better offers that may be received at an auction to be held July 18-19 in New York.
The aggregate purchase price is for leases and equipment at the 79 stores.
The agreements include a provision to hire Winn-Dixie employees, who are losing their jobs with the company's decision two weeks ago to close or sell 326 stores and cut 22,500 jobs.
Winn-Dixie also is asking the bankruptcy court for permission to conduct closing sales for those store they were unable to sell at auction, beginning in August.
US District Bankruptcy Judge Jerry Funk is expected to rule on the motions at a hearing scheduled July 27-29.
Peter Lynch, president and chief executive officer, said more stores may be sold.
"We are working hard to find buyers for additional stores who will continue to operate them as well as offer employment opportunities for our associates," Lynch said.
Winn-Dixie, which has said it would rather sell than close stores, has hired three brokerages to help with the marketing effort. The Blackstone Group will continue to market stores to other national grocery chains. The Food Partners will try to sell stores to smaller grocers and DJM Asset Management will try to sell stores to non-grocers.
BI-LO, based in Greenville, SC, bid $9 million for 20 different stores in Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Harris Teeter Inc., based in Matthews, NC, bid $16.75 million for nine other stores, all in North Carolina.
Supervalu Retailers, based in Minneapolis is seeking the largest number of Winn-Dixie stores, according to the bankruptcy filing. Supervalu bid $9.5 million for 37 stores in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia.
Calls to Supervalu, BI-Lo and Harris Teeter were not immediately returned.
After the closings, Winn-Dixie will operate 587 stores in the Southeast United States and the Bahamas.
Winn-Dixie shares were down half a cent Friday at $1.085 in over-the-counter sales.
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