JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Southeastern Grocers Inc. added nine new stores and remodeled another 32 in 2020, the company said on Thursday.

“The challenges of this year only strengthened our resolve to support, elevate and grow the communities we serve,” Southeastern Grocers president and CEO Anthony Hucker said. “Our dedicated team of associates worked tirelessly to help make our communities safer and stronger – while also working to continue to refresh and grow our network of stores. Southeastern Grocers provides our customers and communities a shopping experience they can always count on, and we are delighted to have invested in 41 new and renewed grocery stores this year.”

Over the course of the year, the company has renewed 32 stores throughout its footprint to offer improved shopping experiences, opened eight brand new Winn-Dixie stores in Florida, and brought its Fresco y Más concept into a new community in southwest Florida.

Southeastern Grocers began its expansion in February with the opening of a new Winn-Dixie store in the grocer’s hometown of Jacksonville in response to local city and community pleas to address food desert in the Brentwood community. In October the company added a Fresco y Más in Lehigh Acres, a community located just east of Fort Myers, Fla., to provide the growing southwest Florida Hispanic community with an authentic Hispanic grocery store. To close out the year, the grocer introduced new stores in Florida’s Boynton Beach, Gainesville, Jacksonville and Lakewood Ranch communities on November. Those openings were followed by the grand openings of new stores in Lake Mary and West Melbourne, Fla.,  on December 9, and a new store in Fort Myers on December 16. Southeastern Grocers also expanded its “sip and shop” offering with the addition of three new WD’s Taproom in the new Gainesville, Lake Mary and West Melbourne stores.

In 2020, Southeastern Grocers, together with the SEG Gives Foundation, donated more than $115,000 into the communities it serves during grand opening celebrations. Each grand opening event was celebrated with a donation to a local community partner that strives to make a difference in the lives of community members. This year, the grocer supported local heroes, including firefighters, police officers and first responders who protect and serve our communities, veterans organizations that honor and support those who have fought and continue to fight for our country’s freedoms and their families, educational professionals who help nurture students inside and outside of the classroom and food banks committed to providing families in need with hunger relief.

Southeastern Grocers said the new stores created 700 new jobs in Florida, and the company says it hired more than 2,000 new workers across its operating area over the course of the year.