What's up with Hitchcock's Markets?
Hello from Gainesville, Florida. It's Monday, September 28, and you're listening to StreetSmart. I'm Seth Johnson. StreetSmart is a weekly podcast from Mainstreet Daily News, where we cover local news that informs, engages, and inspires listeners like you. Here's the top headlines we're following.
Seth Johnson:Last week, Alachua County declared its decades long road repair backlog a crisis. The county has a $106,000,000 in its 2026 and 2027 budget set aside for roads, and staff have been fielding swarms of submissions to the new pothole repair portal. A federal bankruptcy judge indicated that the Fraser School should own its campus building. The judgment is the most recent happening in the school's bankruptcy and legal battle, with the building's former owner, Newberry Christian Community School. Gainesville playwright K.
Seth Johnson:E. Mullins traveled to Illinois to premiere her show Napkins at the festival. The play is based on Mullins' own experiences caring for an aging parent with Alzheimer's disease. More performances of napkins are planned in Gainesville. Krishna Lunch is once again delivering vegetarian meals to the University of Florida campus.
Seth Johnson:Krishna To Go allows customers a way to pre order meals and get them delivered to specific spots at UF. The volunteer organization recently considered suing the school for banning them from campus without explanation. The Greater Gainesville Garbage Schedule will shuffle around on October 5. You can find maps and timelines for your new route, along with more information on any of these stories at mainstreetdailynews.com. Every day, we're adding new information to keep you informed, and it's all free with no paywall, thanks to our generous members.
Seth Johnson:Welcome to another episode of the StreetSmart podcast. I'm Seth Johnson, and with me is cohost Lillian Hamman.
Lillian Hamman:Hello.
Seth Johnson:Here at Mainstreet, we're no strangers to new things. We started this podcast as a brand new offering to Alachua County back in February, and Mainstreet just debuted another new thing.
Lillian Hamman:Mainstreet Daily News is officially in the comic business. We published the paper's first comic online last week, and I am proud to say it was designed by my cohost, Seth Johnson.
Seth Johnson:Well, that might be a little too much praise, Lillian. I came up with the idea, but Mainstreet Daily News has a great comic artist who's based down in Apopka where our sister paper is at, Jake Vest. And he actually designed the whole thing and took it to another level. And it's about the Gators and their three and o start to the season heading into this past weekend in the game against Ole Miss.
Lillian Hamman:We're always looking for new ways to mix up the way we bring content to you, whether that's a comic or different type of story or anything. And if you ever have ideas, feel free to reach out to us through the editor email.
Seth Johnson:And that email is editor@mainstreetdailynews.com. You can send ideas, story tips, or just feedback on this episode. Speaking of this episode of StreetSmart, let's dive straight into our feature story talking about Hitchcock's Markets, which is a follow-up story to something, Lillian, you were talking about a year ago.
Lillian Hamman:Yeah. So last year we reported that Hitchcock's Market sold all 10 of its locations across North Central Florida. They were a family owned grocer, had been founded in Alachua in 1945. And so that was a pretty big deal. We got the scoop on that story.
Lillian Hamman:Our editor overheard about it, over the weekend and we broke it that next week. But ever since then, the chains have been selling to other grocery store brands like Winn Dixie and Bravo Supermarket and slowly reopening over the course of the past year.
Seth Johnson:Yeah. It seemed like they were all in various states of negotiation based on where they were at and some had already converted over to a Bravo supermarket and others still had Hitchcock's on the front of it. And so, all of them were kind of up in the air it seemed.
Lillian Hamman:Yeah. So, the story I did last week was just kind of catching everybody up on where are each of those stores, what's in those communities now that Hitchcock's has gone. They were kind of known for lower prices, but still really good quality. And so, for places that may not have other options, that was kind of a big deal for them to close too.
Seth Johnson:I'm kind of taking away your thunder because they were in the story that you just published, the one in Hawthorne closed and nothing's taking its place and now they have no grocer there.
Lillian Hamman:That's right. Yeah. Hawthorne was the last one to close. They just closed at the end of August and were giving away as much food as they could. The employees actually received some recognition from the Hawthorne City Commission during a meeting this month just for ensuring that none of their food went to waste and filling up food pantries with it.
Lillian Hamman:But they don't have a buyer. And East Palatka also does not have a buyer. They're actually the last standing Hitchcock store right now. They're still operating. But I talked to the manager there and he said that they have been on the market for about two years now.
Lillian Hamman:Had about five to six fights come to try and, take the sale, but nothing went through. So still awaiting a buyer there. But pretty early on Winn Dixie announced that it had bought Alachua store, Keystone Heights and Williston. So Williston was actually the first one to open as a Winn Dixie last December and Keystone Heights opened in August last month. And Alachua is going to have a grand opening celebration this weekend on Saturday.
Lillian Hamman:They're gonna have a bunch of giveaways and things like that, you know, as the founding store. People have been kind of waiting on that one, but it's also it is a grand opening, but it's also kind of just a moving down the street for Winn Dixie because the store in High Springs is closing. The Winn Dixie there is closing and half the staff from there are moving to Alachua to cover that store. Once that High Spring store closes, they are planned to become an Aldi. So, that's a really fast growing kind of low budget chain right now.
Lillian Hamman:There have been some stores in Gainesville that have popped up and I know there was a Winn Dixie kind of near Depot Park that converted into an Aldi. It gets a little confusing Winn Dixie and Aldi had an agreement when one of them was owned by Southeastern Foods. Part of that Winn Dixie kind of Florida focused expansion that they announced was to turn some of their stores into Aldi, but it's not, you know, every Winn Dixie is going to turn into one. It was just some set stores that kind of came with a deal when they were going back and forth between some different ownership things.
Seth Johnson:Seems like some musical chairs for some of these grocers, you know, Winn Dixie moves down from High Springs to Alachua to take over Hitchcock's and then an Aldi goes in their place. Obviously an Aldi just opened in Jonesville not too long ago.
Lillian Hamman:Right.
Seth Johnson:So it seems like everyone's trying to figure out where the best places are for the grocers right now and this kind of reshuffling. Guess once it starts it kind of creates a chain effect, especially when Hitchcock's is selling all their locations. That East Palatka one, which is the last one standing, did the manager say anything on what happens if no one bites? Will they be closing or what's going to happen there?
Lillian Hamman:He didn't say, but last year when we did the story, Hitchcock said that they are planning to close all locations. So at some point it will close. Newberry was one of the first to close. It had already started transitioning into a Bravo supermarket early last fall. And people have actually been really happy with it just from things I've seen and heard.
Lillian Hamman:You know, they like the quality and the ownership seems pretty invested in the community. So they've been happy with that. And then Indian Town sold to New Jersey based Keyfoods, which I've still been watching it, and I haven't seen it pop up yet. But there is supposedly a Keyfoods coming near 2nd And Charles off of 13th Street in Gainesville as well. They've had a sign up for a long time, but nothing has moved there.
Lillian Hamman:And then the Hitchcock's and Interlochen, Jasper, and Trenton sold to the Boris brothers who own Save A Lot.
Seth Johnson:Wow. So some some other names in the mix there, not just Aldi and Winn Dixie or Bravo. And I remember back in 2021 or 2022 when I was, you know, newer in Gainesville and covering the City Commission, still covering the City Commission back then, Bravo Supermarkets was trying to come into East Gainesville. There was an intermediary trying to bring it in and that fell apart in front the city commission. Otherwise, we might have a Bravo over there kind of off Hawthorne Road, but wasn't able to push it through there.
Seth Johnson:But some other ones come into other parts of Alachua County and North Central Florida.
Lillian Hamman:And an interesting aspect about a place like Hitchcock's, because it was family owned and in the community, it really kind of served to be more than just a grocery store. I mean, they were, you know, showing up at sporting events, bringing food and just really, you know, invested in the community. And when I spoke to Alan Hitchcock last year when the stores were closing, he said his family had sold it in 2008 and it just had kind of changed since then. Kind of become more of a chain type feel and maybe not the same quality, which a lot of customers had also spoken to. But along that kind of small family grocer vibe is Ward's supermarket in Gainesville.
Lillian Hamman:They just celebrated seventy five years. So, only five years younger than Hitchcock's. But I did a story on their kind of legacy in the community. They're still, you know, very vibrant part of the community, local vendors. And, they said that they are essentially kind of the last standing local grocer now without Hitchcock's.
Seth Johnson:Yeah. People seem to resonate with that local grocer and yet, you know, market forces seem to push things up towards chains, at least at the moment. Now for this week's news forecast, the Alachua and Newberry City Commissions will meet on Monday to adopt their final budgets. Alachua will also vote on a moratorium halting data centers from coming into the city for twelve months. The school board of Alachua County will have a special Wednesday meeting to act on various salary agreements, And the city of Gainesville will have a regular meeting on Thursday where they'll be taking a final vote to halt roam towing in the city.
Lillian Hamman:Now for our events segment covering upcoming family friendly events this week. The forty first Annual Thornebrook Fall Arts Festival will take place on Saturday and Sunday. From 10AM to 5PM, visitors can shop a variety of art, including paintings, sculptures, photography, glass, fibers, wood, pottery, and jewelry. Pumpkins are here. Patches are popping up across the city, including the buy a pumpkin, feed a child pumpkin patch opening Friday at Gainesville Church of God.
Lillian Hamman:All pumpkin proceeds will help feed children and support families in need. Also helping feed families in need is the peanut butter challenge kicking off Wednesday. The UFIFAS Extension Alachua County Office will collect jars of peanut butter through October 31 to support Florida peanut producers and help stock local food pantries. Area counties will compete for bragging rights based on the amount of peanut butter collected. After donating peanut butter, you can celebrate peanuts at the Central Florida Peanut Festival coming to Williston on Saturday.
Lillian Hamman:Activities start at 10AM and include a peanut king and queen pageant, cash giveaway, train rides, petting zoo, vendors, and of course, peanuts.
Seth Johnson:I tell you, George Washington Carver is a top tier historical figure for me. I love to get some peanut butter in the morning on a granola bar, and that's breakfast.
Lillian Hamman:I used to go to Kroger and get the fresh ground peanut butter and I had that barcode memorized. I bought so much peanut butter.
Seth Johnson:So it's a good thing we live in North Central Florida with a peanut festival so close.
Lillian Hamman:And I signed you up for the pageant, Seth. You ready? Got your peanut costume?
Seth Johnson:I think so. I'll be in the mails twenty to twenty nine. I'm sure it's gonna be a tough category.
Lillian Hamman:I'll vote for you.
Seth Johnson:Thank you. And that's all we've got for this week's StreetSmart podcast brought to you by Mainstreet Daily News and made possible by our generous members. You can access more free news at mainstreetdailynews.com. We'll be back next week with more stories that matter to you because they take place right here in Alachua County. Take a minute to share StreetSmart and help us continue the work. Our theme music is Sunset Sonata by Gainesville's ska band, Now Leaving Space. This episode is a production of MARC Media.
