Grocery Store Chains Winn-Dixie and BI-LO Begin Accepting Apple Pay

[MacRumors]

Following in the footsteps of office supply store Staples, Winn-Dixie and BI-LO have become the second and third retail chain this week to begin accepting Apple Pay in their retail locations.

According to a tipster who spoke to MacRumors, Apple Pay will officially be supported at Winn-Dixie beginning on Monday, November 17, but multiple reports on Twitter suggest that both Winn-Dixie and its sister store BI-LO have already begun processing Apple Pay payments.

Winn-Dixie is is a major grocery store chain that operates in the southeastern United States, with more than 500 stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Similarly, BI-LO, a grocery store chain owned by the same parent company, consists of more than 800 stores across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The two grocery store chains will join Meijer, Wegmans, and Whole Foods, becoming the fourth and fifth grocery stores to accept Apple Pay. Unlike Staples, which also recently began accepting Apple Pay, BI-LO and Winn-Dixie were not listed under Apple's "Coming later this year" banner, making their adoption of Apple Pay somewhat of a surprise. Winn-Dixie did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the addition of Apple Pay in its stores.

With the addition of Winn-Dixie and BI-LO, Apple Pay now has 36 retail partners, including major retailers like Macy's, Disney, Foot Locker, Petco, Walgreens, and Toys R Us. Apple Pay is also unofficially accepted in many stores that support contactless payments.

Because Apple Pay is still in the early stages of rolling out, there's little data available on its popularity in retail stores, but Whole Foods processed 150,000 transactions in the 17 days following Apple Pay's October 20 debut, which equated to approximately one percent of all Whole Foods transactions.

Article Link: Grocery Store Chains Winn-Dixie and BI-LO Begin Accepting Apple Pay

 

[ethanwa79]

As a local Floridian, I wish Publix would jump on, but they are part of that crap CurrentC group. Publix is just so much closer to me than Winn-Dixie.

 

[BeSweeet]

I go to Winn-Dixie almost weekly, so this should save 4 seconds of time by not using my actual card.

As a local Floridian, I wish Publix would jump on, but they are part of that crap CurrentC group.

Yet another reason why I'm glad I opted for Winn-Dixie instead of Publix.

 

[WardC]

Oh darn. I thought they were gonna say they were selling Retina 5K iMacs in their Fish Department...

 

[2457282]

I do not have these stores in my area, but am happy to hear that Apple Pay continue to roll. It seems like it may even be picking up a little bit of speed, which is really nice.

 

[NMBob]

I do not have these stores in my area, but am happy to hear that Apple Pay continue to roll. It seems like it may even be picking up a little bit of speed, which is really nice.

Is it a matter of just installing something or just installing/turning on some software for something they may already have? I live in the boonies.

 

[brianvictor7]

All together now: A winn for dixie!

 

[macduke]

I'm looking at you, Hy-Vee, make it happen!

For those that are excited about saving "an extra 4 seconds of time", that's only one benefits. For the me primary benefits are security and privacy. I'm willing to spend a little more at stores that get that fact vs this CurrentC bullcrap. I've had to spend many hours this year pouring over bank statements, and then canceling my cards, and then changing all of my online payment methods when my new card arrived. I bought things from Adobe, Target, Home Depot, and Michaels, all of which were hacked. I'm tired of it! It seems like every day something new gets hacked, and it's to the point where it's not even news.

 

[lolkthxbai]

As a local Floridian, I wish Publix would jump on, but they are part of that crap CurrentC group. Publix is just so much closer to me than Winn-Dixie.

I feel for you. As a fellow Floridian I too have a publix closer to me than a Winn-Dixie and using contactless payments is definitely the future. Unfortunately, Publix is stuck in the past.

 

[doelcm82]

I go to Winn-Dixie almost weekly, so this should save 4 seconds of time by not using my actual card.



Yet another reason why I'm glad I opted for Winn-Dixie instead of Publix.

Kroger is the closest grocery to me. I'm pretty sure that's where my Amex card got compromised. I wish they'd jump on the Apple Pay bandwagon.

 

[proline]

As a local Floridian, I wish Publix would jump on, but they are part of that crap CurrentC group. Publix is just so much closer to me than Winn-Dixie.

Don't worry. The CurrentC group won't last 2015 intact. I will enjoy watching it fall part. Nothing like seeing an alliance of people who hate their customers fail.

 

[dvdlovr24]

Bi-Lo has been supporting Apple Pay since it launched. I was surprised the first time that it worked because their was no signage and the pin pads did't reflect that they accepted NFC.

 

[brianvictor7]

I'm looking at you, Hy-Vee, make it happen!

For those that are excited about saving "an extra 4 seconds of time", that's only one benefits. For the me primary benefits are security and privacy. I'm willing to spend a little more at stores that get that fact vs this CurrentC bullcrap. I've had to spend many hours this year pouring over bank statements, and then canceling my cards, and then changing all of my online payment methods when my new card arrived. I bought things from Adobe, Target, Home Depot, and Michaels, all of which were hacked. I'm tired of it! It seems like every day something new gets hacked, and it's to the point where it's not even news.

I shop at Hy-Vee all the time. Would love to see them do this. I may have to wait another year to upgrade, but I'd love to be able to look forward to paying for my groceries using my iPhone.

 

[vpndev]

Home Depot

I am disappointed that Home Depot doesn't yet have Apple Pay working.

They have NFC enabled and the transaction appears to complete (it asks for TouchID, and the amount is the correct amount). But then it says "Declined". But the actual plastic card (i.e. the same account) is accepted. So it's not that this card is declined - just the Apple Pay part.

And the same account in Apple Pay works in several other stores, so it's not a problem with registration or signup etc.

I would really like to not use cards at HD any more but that seems not to be possible. Oh - and their chip-card readers are not yet functional. They are present in the POS device but don't work.

 

[gsmornot]

Kroger is the closest grocery to me. I'm pretty sure that's where my Amex card got compromised. I wish they'd jump on the Apple Pay bandwagon.

Same here. I notice they have replaced all of the card readers in the last week to a model that will process NFC and the new cards with chips but the service has not been turned on. I made a mistake of submitting a note through their customer service website. I sent a short note that said please consider activating NFC in your stores. They replied quickly as said they were aware of Apple Pay and might be making changes in the future to support the technology. The issue came about an hour later when I received an email to complete a survey about the service I received from the support line. The email came every hour at 32 minutes past the hour for DAYS. I directed the messages to spam but for a while I deleted them until it just got on my nerves.

----------

I am disappointed that Home Depot doesn't yet have Apple Pay working.

They have NFC enabled and the transaction appears to complete (it asks for TouchID, and the amount is the correct amount). But then it says "Declined". But the actual plastic card (i.e. the same account) is accepted. So it's not that this card is declined - just the Apple Pay part.

And the same account in Apple Pay works in several other stores, so it's not a problem with registration or signup etc.

I would really like to not use cards at HD any more but that seems not to be possible. Oh - and their chip-card readers are not yet functional. They are present in the POS device but don't work.

Works for me. I have shopped there twice in the last two weeks and paid both times with my phone. I did not select anything on the screen, I just held my phone up to the reader and it processed the payment. I had to input my pin I think but the main benefit for me (security) was served.

I must really like this service by the way, the HD near me is a mess compared to Lowes but I'm able to find what I need and pay securely so I deal with it.

 

[Aotearoa]

Winn Dixie is real? Well I never!

I had only heard of this store from the kids movie "Because of Winn Dixie" and never knew it was actually a real store!

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

The more the merrier! Can't wait till a grocery store in Colorado accepts apple pay! Hopefully king soopers cause that's right next to me.

 

[2457282]

Is it a matter of just installing something or just installing/turning on some software for something they may already have? I live in the boonies.

I think it is a combination of factors. The credit card company are forcing vendors to install hardware that supports more secure payments (NFC, Chips, etc). They are required to have that in place by sometime in 2015 (i think later in the year). So many companies are installig things that include NFC, but had not turned on the functionality. For some I am sure that work was required in their systems. But others had the hardware installed and the software was working, but they decided to turn it off to support a differet technology called CurrentC which uses QR codes. We shall see how that roll out goes, but the more stores that turn on the NFC, the better the chance that people will go in that direction. Android has a Google Wallet and Apple has Apple Pay (I think Apple Pay is a superior implementation of NFC). So I could see this ramping up quickly especially as folks experience it over the holiday shopping season.

 

[dugbug]

I go to Winn-Dixie almost weekly, so this should save 4 seconds of time by not using my actual card.



Yet another reason why I'm glad I opted for Winn-Dixie instead of Publix.

I also have both next to me. Ill be using winn dixie now.

 

[mainstreetmark]

I go to Winn-Dixie almost weekly, so this should save 4 seconds of time by not using my actual card.



Yet another reason why I'm glad I opted for Winn-Dixie instead of Publix.

I abandoned Winn Dixie entirely because they make you use that stupid card to "save money". "Your pork chop is $8! But if you have this card, it's $6".

Publix just charges you what it says.

 

[Mtmspa]

I'm looking at you, Hy-Vee, make it happen!

For those that are excited about saving "an extra 4 seconds of time", that's only one benefits. For the me primary benefits are security and privacy. I'm willing to spend a little more at stores that get that fact vs this CurrentC bullcrap. I've had to spend many hours this year pouring over bank statements, and then canceling my cards, and then changing all of my online payment methods when my new card arrived. I bought things from Adobe, Target, Home Depot, and Michaels, all of which were hacked. I'm tired of it! It seems like every day something new gets hacked, and it's to the point where it's not even news.

I didn't know you had HyVee stores. I am in Iowa and they are all over the place since this is there HQ.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

This is a surprise - I wasn't expecting grocery stores to get onboard with this so quickly. I wonder when Market Basket, Hannaford, or Shaws will start accepting Pay.

 

[Mtmspa]

According to CNBC, Google is ending Wallet. Saw that this morning on a couple news wires.

 

[KdParker]

Discover Card!.....Hello?!....jump on the bandwagon

I keep hearing how Discover Card will start working with Apple Pay....

Nothing so far.

----------

According to CNBC, Google is ending Wallet. Saw that this morning on a couple news wires.

Well...that would explain lack of advertising for it.

Update: Google is ending Google Checkout NOT Google wallet.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

Well, I rarely to Winn-Dixie, but my boyfriend goes there because they have kosher items, but I will be sure to go there first now when I need something I can't buy in bulk.

I'm not going out of my way for those wondering - they are the closest actual grocery store to my house. They are in the same plaza at Publix, and WM is another 4miles up the road. Target is the closest store - but they don't have full grocery, just p-fresh.