An Aldi grocery store is coming in 2027 to the anchor space Winn-Dixie vacated recently in Golden Gate.
Tim Aten
Q: Any idea what’s planned to take Winn-Dixie’s place in Golden Gate? – Jeanne Targett, Golden Gate Estates
A: The Aldi discount grocery chain is taking nearly half of Winn-Dixie’s large anchor space vacated during Memorial Day weekend in Golden Gate Shopping Center on the corner of Golden Gate Parkway and Coronado Parkway in Golden Gate. That leaves a 25,967-square-foot anchor space available at the eastern edge of the Aldi store targeted to open in 2027 at 4849 Golden Gate Parkway.
The new Aldi store will be about 25,000 square feet, which is larger than average Aldi, but much smaller than the 51,291-square-foot Winn-Dixie it replaces in Golden Gate Shopping Center, owned and managed by Miami Lakes-based Gator Investments. Aldi owns shopping centers in at least 20 communities in Florida.
Although Winn-Dixie supermarket recently closed in Golden Gate Shopping Center, Winn-Dixie will continue to operate a liquor store in that center.
A similar supermarket conversion is occurring in the northern Collier community of Immokalee, where Winn-Dixie closed its longtime store last fall and began converting it to Aldi, which is expected to open there later this year. The new Aldi stores coming to Immokalee and Golden Gate will be the sixth and seventh locations in Collier County for the grocery brand.
In a process that began two years ago, Aldi announced plans to convert more than 200 Winn-Dixie stores to the Aldi format, a national grocery brand that offers fewer frills in smaller store footprints. In March 2024, Aldi U.S. acquired Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers and its Winn-Dixie supermarket brand, but a consortium of private investors purchased Southeastern Grocers from Aldi early last year.
Gator Investments seeks another retailer to take the more than 25,000 square feet of the former Winn-Dixie supermarket that the Aldi grocery chain is not taking in Golden Gate.
Gator Investments
The new Southeastern Grocers will continue to operate the remaining Winn-Dixie stores that are not already being converted to Aldi. This includes the supermarkets and liquor stores at Collier Boulevard and Vanderbilt Beach Road in North Naples, and off North Collier Boulevard on Marco Island.
Although Winn-Dixie permanently closed in Golden Gate Shopping Center, the Winn-Dixie liquor store on the Coronado Parkway side of the center will continue to operate under the Winn-Dixie name.
“This liquor store will stay open,” proclaims sandwich board signs on either side of the store’s entrance.
The fifth store in Collier County for the Aldi grocery brand opened last year in Golden Gate Estates.
Tim Aten
An auction of Winn-Dixie’s equipment from its Golden Gate supermarket is scheduled for June 9. More than 370 auction lots of late-model used supermarket, grocery, deli and restaurant equipment will be sold at the sale. The Vision Equipment & Auction Co. online catalog shows a variety of items up for auction, including tables, shelving, racks, cabinets, safes, copiers, printers, trash cans, doors, refrigerators, freezer cases, sinks, sheet pans, electric shopping carts, bug lights and even a meat band saw.
The Home Depot opened its third Collier County location at 11880 Tamiami Trail E. in East Naples on June 4.
Tim Aten
Depot debut
Q: Do you have any information on the opening of the new Home Depot on 41 South? – Luis Trejo, East Naples
A: Collier County’s third store for The Home Depot opened on the evening of June 3 with its grand opening June 4 at 11880 Tamiami Trail E. in East Naples. The new 107,709-square-foot big-box home improvement store with an adjoining 28,018-square-foot garden center is on the southeast corner of U.S. 41 East and Barefoot Williams Road.
The garden center is part of The Home Depot’s new Southeast Naples store at 11880 Tamiami Trail E. The store opened in June and includes a 28,018-square-foot garden center.
Tim Aten
The Home Depot’s new location on the East Trail is 7.2 miles away from its other store in East Naples that has operated since 2000 at Airport-Pulling Road and Davis Boulevard. That store is 5.9 miles away from the North Naples location that launched in 1991 at Pine Ridge Road and Naples Boulevard. In Florida, The Home Depot averages one store for about every 138,000 people, so three stores in Collier are on target to serve the county’s fast-growing population of more than 400,000.
The Home Depot’s Southeast Naples store is part of the Atlanta-based company’s 12-store expansion across eight states this year. Florida has more than 150 stores, about 7% of Home Depot’s stores, a number that’s behind only California and Texas.
Customers and employees gather inside The Home Depot during grand-opening festivities at the retailer’s new Southeast Naples location.
Tim Aten
“While many retailers are closing brick-and-mortar locations, The Home Depot is expanding its physical presence to better serve the modern builder and the inspired homeowner. By moving inventory and expert support closer to some of the nation’s fastest-growing regions, the company is shortening the distance between a project’s start and its completion,” the company reports.
For its new store in the Naples area, Home Depot USA paid more than $13.25 million in October 2022 to acquire the combined six parcels totaling 13.79 acres in transactions that involved four different property owners, county records show. Clearing began in March 2025 on the wooded acreage across the East Trail from Lely Resort and the waterpark at Donna Fiala Eagle Lakes Community Park.
Store Manager Jan Pabey participates in a ceremonial board-cutting June 3 during opening celebrations for The Home Depot’s new store on U.S. 41 East in East Naples.
The Home Depot
The store is managed by Jan Pabey, who started at The Home Depot in 2017 in Loxahatchee Groves, Florida, after he lost everything in Hurricane Maria. Since then, he has risen through the ranks at The Home Depot and sees this store as an opportunity to build something special for his community.
The Home Depot is open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Milestone moment
Tim Aten’s first “Know” column was published June 6, 2006, so this week marks his 20th anniversary of answering readers’ questions and keeping folks informed about developments in Naples and Southwest Florida. Thank you for your interest and engagement. Here’s to another decade.
The Tim Aten Knows weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at Tim.Aten@NaplesPress.com.