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In bankruptcy, Winn-Dixie will close six Tampa Bay stores.

 
The Winn-Dixie located at  2100 W Swann Ave. in Tampa. The grocery store's parent company announced plans to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and close 94 stores, six of which are in Tampa Bay. This store will remain open. [ALESSANDRA DA PRA  |   Times]
The Winn-Dixie located at 2100 W Swann Ave. in Tampa. The grocery store's parent company announced plans to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and close 94 stores, six of which are in Tampa Bay. This store will remain open. [ALESSANDRA DA PRA | Times]
Published March 15, 2018

Winn-Dixie's parent company announced Thursday that it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and close 94 "underperforming" stores in a bid to save itself.

In the Tampa Bay area, that means five local Winn-Dixie grocery stores and a Harvey's will be closed, according to parent company Southeastern Grocers.

RELATED: Interim Winn-Dixie CEO hopes to lead grocery chain into the future (July 24, 2017)

In Hillsborough County, four stores will be shuttered: The Winn-Dixie at 2525 N Dale Mabry Highway and at 4317 Gandy Blvd. in Tampa will be closed, as will the Harvey's at 2525 E Hillsborough Ave. In Apollo Beach, the Winn-Dixie at 6180 U.S. 41 will also close.

In St. Pete Beach, the Winn Dixie store at 7625 Blind Pass Road will be the only store in Pinellas County closed.

The Winn-Dixie at 2126 Collier Parkway in Land O'Lakes will be the only Pasco County stores to shut down.

The company gave no timetable for when the closures will take place. The company statement said it hopes to "work through this process as quickly and efficiently as possible" within the next 90 days.

"The agreement we announced today is an important step in Southeastern Grocers' transformation to put our company in the best position to succeed in the extremely competitive retail market in which we do business," Southeastern Grocers CEO Anthony Hucker said in a statement.

This will be the latest in a series of bankruptcy filings, closures and layoffs for the struggling grocery store chain since 2005. But the measure is expected to cut the company's $1 billion debt by half, the company said. Southeastern Grocers, which also owns Fresco y Más and Bio-Lo, will continue to operate 582 stores.

"We conducted a thorough review of our strategic options and determined that this financial restructuring is in the best interests of our associates, customers, supplier partners and the communities in which we serve," Hucker said in the statement.