What's up with "Publix doesn't have good selection?" (Lakeland: appointed, real estate)

[boy3365]

"Publix doesn't have good selection..."

I've seen this statement several times on this board and heard a person or two in "real life" say it. I didn't want to hijack a recent thread by asking this question, so let's talk about it here.

This is usually something people who move to Florida say, particularly if they are from a northern state. I find this hard to believe. For many people in Florida, if you need something a little off the beaten path, Publix is usually THE place where you're most likely to find it. At the least, you can easily go to the service counter and put in a special order.

What is the typical Publix missing that causes people to believe that it doesn't have "good selection?" Is it missing the Planter's Anchovy Buffalo Honey Flavored Jumbo Peanuts with Injected Swiss Meatballs that they sell up north?

[TheMartianChick]

Publix is my favorite grocery store in Florida and Food Lion was my least favorite... but I'm from up north and I can honestly say that Publix doesn't have as good of a selection as Wegmans. I called the Wegmans headquarters to get questions answered for a client and had a lovely chat with their real estate manager. I grilled him about their plans to expand south and was disappointed to find that they had no plans to go further south than Virginia. My husband and I have a plan to counter-act that... We'll just have to load up our car with some of the stuff that we can't easily find in Florida and bring it down when we travel.

I have to say that I've been spoiled for the past 20+ years because I live in Wegmans' territory. (I don't work for the company, but you might think that I'm some sort of schill after reading my post!)In addition to the fact that Wegmans always make the Fortune Magazine list of top employers, they are usually featured on any list of the best grocery stores in America, too! Keeping in mind that this is the grocery chain that everyone in the northeast has to compete with, the other supermarket chains in the area have stepped up their game.

Here are a few reasons that we buy at Wegmans:

I'm a bit of a foodie so I can be particularly harsh about food quality and taste. Wegmans store brands taste exactly like the national brands. With the exception of their frozen pierogies, their brands are comparable to the national brands. In some cases, they offer product variations that the national brands don't. Most stores offer their own brand of diet cola, but don't bother with much else without sugar. Wegmans offers their own regular and diet version of almost any type of soda that exists:

Wegmans Brand Soda

Wegmans sells their own brand of canned fruit that is packed in fruit juice instead of sugary syrup. While we prefer to eat fresh fruit, we do sometimes want some sort of canned fruit to pack in lunches. This was especially important when our kids were young. The national brands without syrup are really pricey, if you happen to get lucky and find them. Wegmans brand is always available and at a good price. Aldi's recently started selling single serve cups of fruit packed in juice, but they are awfully small!

Wegmans fresh produce section is hard to beat. Their produce managers do a great job of not just having a large and bountiful array available at all times, they also tailor the offerings to include ethnic favorites. As an example, in Ithaca NY, they offer lychee nuts because there is a large Asian population. The majority of their produce is locally sourced when in season.

The Ithaca store also has a gourmet kitchen that tests recipes. If you've ever seen an unusual looking food item and wondered how to prepare it, their staff probably has a recipe available for it. The recipes are given away for free on little handouts or in their monthly magazine,(called Menu) which is delivered by mail to your house once per month.

They also have a specialty cheese section, a separate refrigerated beer room, more micro-brews than I have ever seen under one roof,standard deli for sliced meats,a fantastic seafood department, a bulk food section, an area that sells giftware and dishes for entertaining, pharmacy with $2 prescriptions, florist shop, an area that sells semi-prepped foods, a takeout deli with all kinds of salads and side dishes and a huge takeout bar featuring: Chinese food, an olive bar, the best sub sandwiches, pizza, soup, wings, rotisserie chickens, etc...Oh and if you like hot beverages, you can also get coffeehouse-type drinks mixed with whatever flavored shots you want. There is also a seating area if you'd like to eat in-house and they also cater. (I know that I'm leaving out a lot!)

Their natural food section does not look like an afterthought and features many Wegmans' brand products and national brands.

The staff is friendly and knowledgeable and the company has been providing health insurance long before there were any mandates. The company gives back to the community in so many ways. Many of their employees were working in my local store 20+ years ago when I began shopping there.They also have a Helping Hands crew that will get your groceries to the car.

Another hallmark of Wegmans is that they have a fantastic bakery. I stopped baking cakes years ago. There really was no point in doing it when Wegmans does it far better than most traditional bakeries. Need a dessert for a holiday? Their offerings look as though they came from a specialty bakery and many feature real whipped cream frosting, instead of butter cream. This dessert is a household favorite:

[Spring Hillian]

Planter's Anchovy Buffalo Honey Flavored Jumbo Peanuts with Injected Swiss Meatballs

Oh boy, its been a long time since Ive had those!

I find Publix's selection just fine. Its the only place Ive been able to find a few items. They have a high turnover
on their Boar's Head cold cuts so its always as fresh as possible.

[boy3365]

TheMartianChick,

You should work for their marketing department. I wasn't expecting such a passionate response. :-)

I'm mostly a perimeter shopper, but people have said the same things about Publix brand products. I also do the coupon thing every once in a while, so the national brands always end up being cheaper than store brands. One thing I noticed when I moved to Florida for college is that you could bring Publix branded products to a potluck and not be seen as cheap.

Basically, the stores carry items that are popular to the area. I'm going to find more Cajun sausages, seasonings, and such in Louisiana than I will here, but they can't match the selection of Latin/Caribbean we have in Central and South Florida.

[annerk]

I eat organic/GMO Free, and Publix is beyond lacking in those items. Whole Foods can serve most of my needs, but expensive. I have friends/relatives who drive down almost monthly, they load up at Wegman's and bring it down for me. For example Wegman's sells boneless/skinless organic chicken breasts for $5.99/lb, Publix doesn't carry them (Greenwise is not organic) and Whole Foods wants $10.99 a pound for them.

[LakelandFLNative]

I think it comes down to three things. First is perception. Second is what they are used to if moving from out of state. Third, it depends on the size of their Publix store. I have two Publix's within a few miles of me. One is a recently remodeled very large store and they have a wonderful selection. However, the store closest to me is the smaller one and is lacking in some areas. Also, if you are looking for more ethnic or sometimes even northern type foods, it can be hard to find in Publix. What many people don't realize though is if you go to the customer service desk and ask them for something, they will special order or stock it for you.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by LakelandFLNative

I think it comes down to three things. First is perception. Second is what they are used to if moving from out of state. Third, it depends on the size of their Publix store. I have two Publix's within a few miles of me. One is a recently remodeled very large store and they have a wonderful selection. However, the store closest to me is the smaller one and is lacking in some areas. Also, if you are looking for more ethnic or sometimes even northern type foods, it can be hard to find in Publix. What many people don't realize though is if you go to the customer service desk and ask them for something, they will special order or stock it for you.

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

[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!

[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. :-)

[EditorJul]

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.

Yes and no. The fact that I can get the items I'm looking for (aside from very localized specialties) by shopping a half dozen different stores in the area means that there is a market for it locally. My frustration with the selection at Publix is that after I finish shopping there, I still have to go to several other stores to finish my grocery shopping. If the selection was ideal, I could make Publix a one-stop shop.