What's up with "Publix doesn't have good selection?" (Sanford: 2014, neighborhood)

[Spring Hillian]

If you seek out the specialty stores for things like tea, fish, noodles, you will find what you want. If you narrow your search to Publix you will not find everything wanted. You would be more than likely find a good sunscreen in CVS or Walgreens'.

Originally Posted by EditorJul

I think the frustration with the selection at Publix starts off when you're looking for one particular item, and can't find it, and then you start noticing all the other things that you'd like to get that you can't find.

For me, it started off with looking for the large, flat chow mein noodles (basically fried wonton strips). At our local Publix, the only thing they had even remotely close was a can of skinny, flavorless noodles. I also was looking for certain types of fish (bluefish, trout, corvina, etc.), and found the seafood department lacking. Then it went to looking for prepared foods (people who have been to Wegmans know what I'm talking about), but aside from fried chicken and cold salads, no luck on that. Then was looking for mineral-based sunscreen, and the only one that they had was so weak that it didn't work for my family. Next it was specialty teas…the selection is meh.

I fully expected that this area would't have a huge amount of international grocery selections, and wasn't trying to find HP sauce or whatever, or local specialties (like Berger cookies for former Marylanders), but some of the other things were a disappointment. It just means changing what we eat down here, or for some items, bringing back supplies when we visit up north. Certainly a great deal of it comes from the fact that grocery stores down here are at least 1/3 again as small as the ones I used to shop at up north. It does make for a much smaller grocery bill and less time in the store, though!

[EditorJul]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

If you seek out the specialty stores for things like tea, fish, noodles, you will find what you want. If you narrow your search to Publix you will not find everything wanted. You would be more than likely find a good sunscreen in CVS or Walgreens'.

Maybe it is because the weather is so lousy up north that grocery stores become a one-stop shop, even for specialty items. I wouldn't even think of going to a CVS or a Walgreens for anything other than really bizarre medications (OTC or prescription). Wegman's aside (as there is no equivalent down here), if I was in the area of Safeway or a newer model of Giant, they would have greater variety, even of the more unusual items, simply because they were bigger and could hold more items. (Now stores like Food Lion…forget it. Size-wise, it was on par with Publix, but far, far, far less in terms of quality or selection. It is basically the Winn Dixie of the mid-Atlantic, IMO.)

With everything being so close and there being so little traffic down here, going to specialty stores isn't a problem, though…it just takes a bit more coordination so I'm not hitting the seafood market on a 90-degree day when I still have five other stops to make (unless I bring a cooler).

[annerk]

Originally Posted by boy3365

So basically, the comments come primarily from Wegmans fans/Northeasterners because our area stores only sell foods that are popular in this state and part of the country. I guess it's one of those "if there is a market for it...." things and the market isn't here yet.

I might as well go ahead and say Publix and Winn-Dixie have poor selection because they don't have the half an aisle's worth of cajun seasonings/sauces and 15 different varieties of boudin sausage that the small grocery chain I visited in Louisiana recently had in stock. :-)

Actually, no. If you'll read what I wrote, Publix carries a very, very limited selection of organics. If you've ever been to Whole Foods in Winter Park or Dr. Phillips, you would know that there is a huge demand for organic food in this area. So Publix is losing market share for not catering to what people want. Organic chicken breast, pears, and orange juice are hardly a "northern" thing.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by annerk

I've asked many times for them to stock additional organics, they said they will look into it, but never do.

It might be there just isn't enough people willing to pay the price of organic in your local store's area. We have some organic and lately they have even started featuring it in ads.
At my store they no longer separate( in a seperate area) the organic veggies from the regular veggies-all carrots are next to carrots, lettuce next to lettuce etc. ....you have to read the signs and labels more closely now.

All stores are different, for example, they do not sell Kobe beef in my Publix; but they do at other stores in my county. Some stores have an aisle on both sides for Chinese/Japanese, Jewish, or Hispanic foods but some just have a small selection of ethnic. Some stores carry Leg of Lamb etc but my store doesn't because they couldn't sell enough here.
They are a business trying to make a profit just like every business....you sell what the most people in your immediate area will buy or you go out of business. Not being from the NE, I have little want or need for some of the stuff ya'll miss.
Publix actually has a better selection than I remember seeing in the Midwest when I lived up there. I miss fresh radish and kohlrabi but I don't expect the stores down here to carry them because most people don't eat them. Many probably never heard of a kohlrabi. I have always said if you decide to move somewhere you adapt. When you go back to visit, it just makes the foods taste even better than you remember.

Publix will try to order items for you, but some items they cannot get because it is not supplied to any of their stores here in the south from their warehouses. If they get a big enough demand in one store they might try to stock it on a regular basis for a trial period, but it has to make a profit for them to keep it available.

[boy3365]

Originally Posted by annerk

Actually, no. If you'll read what I wrote, Publix carries a very, very limited selection of organics. If you've ever been to Whole Foods in Winter Park or Dr. Phillips, you would know that there is a huge demand for organic food in this area. So Publix is losing market share for not catering to what people want. Organic chicken breast, pears, and orange juice are hardly a "northern" thing.

I actually meant to say "organics aside" or something in that post, but forgot to include that. I think many grocers are playing catch-up as the organic meats and locally farmed and organic produce movement gains in popularity, or some may be conceding that market to Whole Foods, Fresh Market, etc.

Winn-Dixie prides itself on meat, but they don't sell organics at all.

I'm definitely talking about the Planter's Anchovy Honey Flavored nuts kind of "lack of selection" complaints.

[elston]

I am from "up north" but I have no complaint with Publix....I like it a lot. The only BUT.....is the seafood selection is mostly thawed out items that they have frozen in the next counter. I also worry about the shell fish as the turn over seems to be slow.....(not sure of this). I moved here from Maine so not surprised at the disappointing seafood selection.....other than that.....no complaints. I agree the selection of deli salads etc is fairly routine and get boring....but they are a supermarket not a deli.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by Rabflmom

It might be there just isn't enough people willing to pay the price of organic in your local store's area. We have some organic and lately they have even started featuring it in ads.
At my store they no longer separate( in a seperate area) the organic veggies from the regular veggies-all carrots are next to carrots, lettuce next to lettuce etc. ....you have to read the signs and labels more closely now.

All stores are different, for example, they do not sell Kobe beef in my Publix; but they do at other stores in my county. Some stores have an aisle on both sides for Chinese/Japanese, Jewish, or Hispanic foods but some just have a small selection of ethnic. Some stores carry Leg of Lamb etc but my store doesn't because they couldn't sell enough here.
They are a business trying to make a profit just like every business....you sell what the most people in your immediate area will buy or you go out of business. Not being from the NE, I have little want or need for some of the stuff ya'll miss.
Publix actually has a better selection than I remember seeing in the Midwest when I lived up there. I miss fresh radish and kohlrabi but I don't expect the stores down here to carry them because most people don't eat them. Many probably never heard of a kohlrabi. I have always said if you decide to move somewhere you adapt. When you go back to visit, it just makes the foods taste even better than you remember.

Publix will try to order items for you, but some items they cannot get because it is not supplied to any of their stores here in the south from their warehouses. If they get a big enough demand in one store they might try to stock it on a regular basis for a trial period, but it has to make a profit for them to keep it available.

I have at least a dozen friends who shop at the two Publix stores closest to me who buy most of their groceries at Whole Foods (we car pool and pick up items for each other there as well). That's just people I know. I'm sure there are hundreds of others. Because Publix won't stock it (and have never offered to special order) I buy 90% of my meat from Wegman's and have it brought down. I get a lot of my other groceries that way as well. That's several hundred dollars a month spent out of state--and not on items that are not common in the south, either. I don't expect Publix to carry State Fair Speedie Sauce or Dinosaur BBQ. But to not carry organic OJ is beyond me.

[Spring Hillian]

Publix does carry a line of organic foods, its limited but....

Publix GreenWise Market Products

There are only a few Greenwise stores.

Publix - New Store Search Publix Stores Publix Stores Search Results

[annerk]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

Publix does carry a line of organic foods, its limited but....

Publix GreenWise Market Products

There are only a few Greenwise stores.

Publix - New Store Search Publix Stores Publix Stores Search Results

Actually you need to read the label. Not everything labeled Greenwise is organic.

[boy3365]

Originally Posted by annerk

Actually you need to read the label. Not everything labeled Greenwise is organic.

Yep. I can see the "organic" label being just another marketing ploy by food companies to make consumers think they are eating healthy like they did with low-fat (more sugar) and low-carb (sugar alcohols). Good advice. Reading the label is very important regardless of what the cover says. I remember reading on a local produce store's website that you can use the "local produce" label for products shipped as far as 400 miles away.


I do recall Publix wanting to expand their Greenwise store concept. There were rumors of them being in Winter Park and Dr. Phillips, but then things came to a halt. There are only three of them, and two of them are in Palm Beach County ($$$). It looks like they just expanded the selection of natural/organic foods in their existing stores based on neighborhood demand. The Orange/Michigan store has a huge Greenwise section whereas it's just a blurb in the smaller store where I usually shop.

I think Publix's biggest concern in the past few years has been the (smear haha) campaign by Walmart on prices and the rapid building of new Walmart Neighborhood Markets. Walmart has also instituted a "price-match BOGOs at the Walmart price" for Florida customers. Though most stores do BOGOs, Publix is almost branded by it. Walmart instituting that policy for Florida only (when Florida doesn't enjoy privileges like double coupons and the Publix Penny Item like the other states due to the lack of competition here), was basically a declaration of war.