Winn-Dixie Offers Solutions for Valentines to Give Love at Home This Year

Making this Valentine’s special for your sweetheart is a cinch this year, and doesn’t have to break your budget. Winn-Dixie (NASDAQ:WINN) is using its culinary expertise to offer lovers a restaurant-quality make-at-home Surf & Turf meal, and is throwing in the chef for free.

Give love to your special someone this Valentine's by picking up a dozen Passion Growers long-stemmed roses available exclusively at Winn-Dixie. These beautiful blooms are guaranteed to last seven days, and at only $24.99 - a fraction of a traditional florists' inflated prices - showering your sweetie with fragrant flowers doesn't have to be a thorn in the side. (Photo: Business Wire)

Using Quick Response (QR) codes and a special website (www.winn-dixie.com/GiveLove) scheduled to launch Feb. 8, novice cooks and foodies alike can invite Winn-Dixie’s executive chef into their kitchens to provide simple to follow step-by-step instructions for preparing the “Valentine’s Surf & Turf Meal,” complete with two steaks, two lobster tails, two baking potatoes, asparagus and six chocolate-covered strawberries. All of the components of the “Surf & Turf” meal are together in the special “What’s for Dinner” display case.

Complete the affordable at-home memory-making moment with a dozen Passion Growers long-stemmed roses available exclusively at Winn-Dixie. These beautiful blooms are guaranteed to last seven days, and at only $24.99 – a fraction of a traditional florists’ inflated prices – showering your sweetie with fragrant flowers doesn’t have to be a thorn in the side.

“Couples can skip the reservations and spare the over-priced arrangements by celebrating a romantic evening at home this Valentine’s,” said Mary Kellmanson, marketing group vice president for Winn-Dixie. “We are taking the stress and financial strain out of Valentine’s by offering guests a quick one-stop shop for everything needed to give love, including a wide selection of boxed gourmet chocolates, cards and wines.”

Once again this year, Winn-Dixie will open its convenient “Lover’s Lane” express checkout beginning Sunday, Feb. 12, through Valentine’s Day. Whether the hurried husband grabbing a last-minute card for his wife, or a mom picking up cupcakes from the Winn-Dixie bakery for her kid’s class on the way to school, guests purchasing Valentine’s related product can get in and get out quick, bypassing the standard lanes.

Besides the “Valentine’s Surf & Turf Meal” and the dozen long-stemmed roses for $24.99, Winn-Dixie is featuring an array of Valentine’s products and services, including:

• Bonus fuelperks! Rewards on all children’s Valentine cards Feb. 1 – 14 and triple fuelperks! on gift card purchases ($5 off $50 gift card purchases in areas that do not yet have fuelperks!)
• Customization stations inviting guests to put a personal touch to a message cookie or 5-inch cake on Feb. 13 and 14 (see stores for details)
• Specials on flowering plants and mixed bouquets, and many different balloon styles starting at $7.99
• On-site flower and gift wrapping, and personal floral design services.

The National Retail Federation predicts the average person will spend $120.03 on Valentine’s Day this year, up 8.3 percent over last year. Total holiday spending is predicted to be $19.6 billion, with nearly 80 percent of Valentine’s Day purchases being made in the week before the holiday, which is on a Tuesday this year.

About Winn-Dixie

Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., is one of the nation’s largest food retailers. Founded in 1925, the Company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. The Company currently operates approximately 480 retail grocery locations and approximately 380 in-store pharmacies in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi. For more information, please visit www.winn-dixie.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50157738&lang=en