Publix voted best grocery chain in US (Miami, Palmetto: how much, home)

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by Blue Sunday

Having been in only two Aldi's I will say that IMO ,Aldi's is not superior to anyone.

Of course it isn't. It's a discount bare bones operation where they do whatever they can to cut costs. And that includes not hiring enough employees to keep several checkouts open to reduce lines. It also includes not using employees to round up shopping carts so they make customers pay a deposit for one until they bring it back to its corral.

BTW, one thing you'll notice in this thread is that most of the people who say Publix sucks are the same people who always chime in negatively about any Miami-related topic. I suppose they feel that since they hate Miami in general, they have to hate everything that has a presence in Miami whether it makes sense or not.

Like claiming that Aldi is a better shopping experience than Publix.

[WrongStreet]

Yeah I don't understand the hate on Publix. As a neighborhood grocery store it is ideal. No store is perfect, but Publix seems to make it a habit of constantly trying to improve in the areas where they are lacking.

As far as Aldi, I don't think it should even be compared to Publix, to me it is like some kind of mini-market with little organization and a very limited selection. I have nothing against Aldi, they have some good prices, but for me it's not an everyday kind of grocery.

On the topic of Aldi, looks like there will be some competition for them on the east coast starting this year:

Lidl is opening 100 stores in the US - Business Insider

Apparently Lidl is a popular grocery chain in Europe in the model of Aldi, they will be opening stores in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia this year. Soon expanding across the US.

[60SeaRay]

Easy...PUBLIX is a SUPERMARKET, ALdi is not, neither is Trader Joes's (owned by the same corp).


Lately there has been an obvious concerted effort online to "talk-down" PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS. This is an intentional paid effort to shills online to "soften-up" a possible new entrant to the Florida main market....which is Wegman's and a few other truly specialty market stores. It ain't working, but this sort of tactic was done with new regional banks coming to Florida just a few years ago, e.g. First Union, Regions, Southtrust, Wachovia and of course JPMC (marketing itself ony as "Chase").


The internet has become the place to "plant" negative stories and doubts about leaders in retail markets, in order to create some artificial "buzz" about a possible newcomer.


PUBLIX SUPERMARKET is invading Wegman's possible expansion territory far, far more than Wegman's efforts to invade PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS territory. Wegman's has essentially no name recognition to natives and long time residents, or southerners in the SE....Publix is ALREADY building name recognition and stature in places such as GA, AL, SC, NC, and now VA, and even east TN and of course Nashville . PUBLIX already has distribution infrastructure in place such as outside Birmingham as well, not to mention the large distribution presence run by their Carolina Division.


PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS already has a leg up, it seems to me. Plus they are building more and more stores within 10 minutes (max) to brand new large planned residential communities all over Florida, including massive presence in desirable residential locations in Manatee-Sarasota-south Hillsborough, Bonita, N Ft Myers, Estero, Cape Coral.






Lidl stores will compete heavily with the Walmart business model and type of customer. A Lidl customer is NOT the targeted customer for PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS. Think of the marketing aimed at customers for Bank of America, versus marketing aimed at a JP Morgan Chase customer. They aren't the same profile, albeit both do huge business. The first bank going into the new PUBLIX plazas in FL is JPMC, generally on an outparcel. Both are marketing to a very similar demographic, income/customer. JPMC is not a "discount banker". You won't see them build next to an ALdi, Lidl, or heaven knows as Walmart. It's cluster marketing.

[WrongStreet]

Are you referring to plazas where Publix actually owns the plaza versus just being the anchor tenant? Because I have seen many "Publix plazas" where there are no Chase branches, in fact, I have come across more that have Wells Fargo branches.


Also, what are the different customer profiles for the banks? How does Chase market differently than Bank of America?

[Awsi Dooger]

Originally Posted by Blue Sunday

Having been in only two Aldi's I will say that IMO ,Aldi's is not superior to anyone.

As I emphasized in my previous post, it depends on what you are prioritizing. For me Aldi is light years superior to Publix. I can't imagine choosing between the two and seriously believing Publix is the better option.

I lived in Las Vegas for 25 and bet sports for a living. In that environment, everything is about the price and instincts toward where the price is likely to move. Now that I have shifted my sports earnings to the stock market -- mostly boring index funds -- and live in Miami most of the year, I still apply the price-oriented focus to other endeavors. For example, I know which gas stations move quickly up or down, and which ones are slow. I know which direction the price of oil is going. So I don't automatically fill up like a robot as soon as I approach empty. If the price is dropping I'll wait. If it is lagging and going to zoom up 5 cents tomorrow I'll make a post-midnight dash to grab the lowest price before the climb.

I realize that approach isn't for anyone. But it allows me a private smirk and chuckle. I always beat the price on so-called little events, and that allows for an extra big event or two once in a while, like my trip to Jacksonville two weeks ago to attend the Players Championship. Melbourne is invariably the lowest priced city on I-95 in Florida in terms of gas prices. Same this time. I filled up both going and coming on West New Haven Avenue just off the freeway. It was $2.08 at Shell in Melbourne plus I had discounts based on the Fuel Rewards card. When I travel out of state I always identify the areas with lowest gas prices beforehand. Often I'll set the GPS to head to a specific station and specific price, hundreds of miles away.

Every Monday afternoon I check the website iheartpublix.com for a sneak peek at the Publix weekly ad. A lady named Michelle posts the details and often others will chime in with additional info in the comment section. That allows me to know if Publix is offering anything, especially Buy One/Get One, that I need or will be superior to the Aldi pricing. But once I got a feel for Aldi about 18 months ago I rarely shop at Publix or Winn-Dixie anymore. Initially about a decade ago I had a poor impression of Aldi based on brief visits in the Saratoga area. I saw the cheap cereal imitations and all but ridiculed the chain. What a fool I was.

Now I can anticipate the Aldi price drops and plan accordingly. They have a fairly routine schedule of when the oranges will be on major sale, the red grapes, the apples, the strawberries, and so forth. I'm rarely surprised. I grab a big empty box from their shelves or cart and load it up. No need to rent a shopping cart or buy a bag. When I check out I'm paying 60% or less of the Publix price for similar items. That's not an exaggeration. Last week while visiting my sister in Orlando the local Aldi had strawberries for 99 cents. Adjacent Publix was asking $3.99.

Walking the wider cleaner aisles at Publix with nearby smiling employees is not worth the extra 40% to me. I realize it might be worth it to others. Likewise in the '80s there was an Aldi-type shopping experience on Bird Road and 87th Avenue on the northeast corner. It is currently a CVS store. The bare bones discount grocery store was called Basics. Some might remember it. Like Aldi it generated vastly different reaction. My family loved it. I always enjoyed shopping there while visiting from Las Vegas.

As valicky mentioned, other chains out of state are very similar if not slightly better than Publix, like Wegman's and Ingles. I always laugh when I see the prominent signs attached to Ingles that read, "American Owned." This is in the South. Apparently the Ingles owners are so paranoid that their name sounds Hispanic that they plaster that sign on the front walls, and in huge lettering.

[WrongStreet]

Originally Posted by Awsi Dooger

As valicky mentioned, other chains out of state are very similar if not slightly better than Publix, like Wegman's and Ingles. I always laugh when I see the prominent signs attached to Ingles that read, "American Owned." This is in the South. Apparently the Ingles owners are so paranoid that their name sounds Hispanic that they plaster that sign on the front walls, and in huge lettering.

Haha, the first time I saw an Ingles in North Carolina, I joked with my brother that I though it was an English school. "Ingles" of course meaning "English" in Spanish. It's a fine grocery store, but didn't find it much different than a Safeway or Giant TBH, had a similar vibe.

[Thundarr457]

Lidl is coming:

A German grocery chain with the power to cripple Aldi, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's is about to invade America

[Blue Sunday]

Originally Posted by Thundarr457

Lidl is coming:

A German grocery chain with the power to cripple Aldi, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's is about to invade America

Same was said about many others,Food Lion comes to mind,



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidl

[elias9193]

Originally Posted by Thundarr457

Lidl is coming:

A German grocery chain with the power to cripple Aldi, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's is about to invade America

Lidl is just Aldi with a different name, been there done that, don't believe the hype.

[MegaJoy]

Originally Posted by [[B

WrongStreet[/b];48188864]I grew up in the DC area and I don't see how Safeway or Giant are any better than Publix.

Greetings it is a pleasure to meet someone from DC---
However, we disagree in our choice of markets.
I love Giants and Safeway!