If you have stopped by the Winn-Dixie store on Highway 39 and you haven’t been there in a while, you may be surprised by some of the changes.

A host of new amenities were unveiled at the store Thursday. 

For one thing, shoppers are greeted with a large open space filled with fresh produce artfully displayed on ice. 

There are also new pizza ovens. Shoppers now have the choice of buying prepared pizza to take home and heat or can have it cooked right in the store. 

Next to the pizza section is ready-to-eat Sushi, and nearby, a coffee bar serves gelato, an Italian-style ice cream.

Candice Maloney said she enjoyed the store’s new look. 

“I think the changes are great,” she said. “Definitely some positive things they’ve done here.” 

Caroline Carns described the new look as fabulous.

“They have a lot more healthy foods in here and I like that,” she said. 

Winn-Dixie CEO Ian McLeod said the upgrades reflect a fresh approach. 

“We started to redevelop Winn-Dixie. We looked at ways we could come to our customers with a new improved offer. We got some great new offers in terms of what we’re doing with fresh pizza in the cafe. We’ve also got fresh produce on ice to keep it fresher as well. Also in the last six months we’ve lowered prices on over 3,000 items, invested 70 million dollars across the company in lower prices for our customers. So it’s about great quality, it’s about great prices, but also it’s about great service,” McLeod said.

 Percy Bland, mayor of Meridian, felt this kind of commitment shows that Meridian is growing.

“I want to thank Winn-Dixie for being a partner for this community and this city for over 60 years,” Bland said. “I want to also thank them for there continued investment into our city. That means that they believe in our city. They believe in you here — their customers — and they made this improvement so the shopping experience can benefit all of us.”