Alachua-based Hitchcock’s Markets is poised to sell all 10 of its locations across North Central Florida to various grocery chains, as one purchase was finalized last month and others are pending.
The rural community-focused and locally-supplied grocery store and pharmacy currently operates stores in Alachua, East Palatka, Hawthorne, Indiantown, Interlachen, Jasper, Keystone Heights, Newberry, Trenton and Williston.
According to a Hitchcock’s manager, who wanted to remain anonymous, the Newberry location is the only one of the 10 with a finalized transaction, and East Palatka is the only one without a verbal purchase agreement from a buyer.
Newberry’s location started transitioning into Bravo Supermarket on Sept. 24. Alachua, Keystone Heights and Williston are reviewing offers from Winn-Dixie.
“A lot of [Hitchcock’s] stores are the only grocery stores in town; most of our stores are in smaller communities,” the manager said. “It would affect the community.”
The manager said talks of selling Hitchcock’s started around six months ago after the company’s owner, Carlos Alvarez, died last year, and his family wanted to downsize out of the business.
The manager also said multiple vendors, including Coca-Cola, stopped delivering to Hitchcock’s Markets because the company owes them money.
Even though Hitchcock’s did not proactively try to sell, the manager said the company told its stores that if offers came up, they’d take them.
“In small grocery chains, information travels fast,” the manager said. “Everybody kind of started putting their plan together to try to purchase.”
Adonis Paseiro, Hitchcock’s Director of Operations, told Mainstreet the sales were rumors and declined to speak on the record.
However, the majority of Hitchcock’s Market managers confirmed to Mainstreet that transactions to buy their stores were in the works and that they were told by corporate not to talk about them. A few also raised concerns about the lack of information they had received from corporate about the sales, including whether they’d keep their jobs.
Hitchcock’s Keystone Heights manager, Janette Crowell, said if there are employees at the store level who know what’s going on, it’s likely because that store is closer to finalizing a sale. She said she knows four to five prospective buyers have been considered, including Save A Lot owners Mike, Mark and Josh Boris.
Hitchcock’s Alachua manager, Emily Higginbothan, also said it’d been tough on her and her staff that they hadn’t been given much information about the sales, but that Southeastern Grocers was supposed to buy her store.
According to Business Wire, a group of private investors purchased Southeastern Grocers and its Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket brands from Aldi in February. Aldi still plans to convert around 220 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores to Aldi by 2027.
“When I tell you they’re being closed-mouthed about it, they’re being closed-mouthed about it,” Crowell said. “We know nothing, and that’s what gets us so nervous, all the associates that work here, because we just don’t know.”
Crowell said Hitchcock’s “Market Fresh Bucks” are set to expire Nov. 1 at all locations. The program partners with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to supply Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients with produce coupons when they spend more than $10 of SNAP funds on produce.
The manager who wished to remain anonymous said the program’s expiration was coincidentally timed with the sales and originally intended to end in July, but was extended because of extra money.
Elvis Tejada, manager of Bravo’s in Newberry, recently moved from Connecticut to run the new store, which is expected to open at the end of the month. He said Hitchcock’s reached out to Bravo’s when it wanted to sell, but that he didn’t know why.
Tejada said the staff from Hitchcock’s will stay on board to help the brand become part of the community, and that while Bravo’s will not initially have a pharmacy, they’ll consider adding one in the future. He said if local farmers offer competitive prices, Bravo’s will offer local products like Hitchcock’s did.
“Bravo’s is going to try to bring more fresh [products] and good prices for our customers, as we do in all our stores,” said Tejada.
Hitchcock’s Markets has been a staple grocer and pharmacy for rural communities since Bob Hitchcock founded it in 1945 on Main Street in Alachua. Bob’s son, Alan Hitchcock, grew the company into 12 stores across North Central Florida before selling the brand to Haug Enterprises in 2008, who sold it to the Alvarez family in 2019.
Hitchcock’s Markets has an annual revenue of $67 million, employs over 660 employees and has launched local initiatives such as The Alan and Cathy Hitchcock Field & Fork Pantry to combat food insecurity.
Editor’s note: This story was underwritten by a grant from the Rural Reporting Initiative at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida. To learn more or get involved, click here.
