Publix
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- This article is about Publix the supermarket. For other uses, see Publix (disambiguation).
| Publix Super Markets, Inc. | |
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| Slogan | Where Shopping is a Pleasure |
|---|---|
| Type | Private/Employee Owned |
| Founded | 1930 |
| Headquarters | Lakeland, Florida |
| Key people | Charlie Jenkins Jr., CEO Ed Crenshaw, President Howard Jenkins, Chairman |
| Industry | Retail (Grocery) |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor |
| Revenue | $20.75 billion (2005) |
| Employees | 138,000 |
| Website | www.publix.com |
Publix is a United States supermarket chain based in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, its slogan is "Where Shopping is a Pleasure" and more recently "It's Been Our Pleasure" (commemorating the chain's seventy-fifth anniversary.)
Publix has operations in five states: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. It employs over 138,000 people at its 889 retail locations, corporate offices, eight grocery distribution centers, and nine Publix brand manufacturing facilities which produce its dairy, deli, bakery, and other food products. In addition, Publix owns "Crispers", a chain of restaurants in Florida specialising in salads; some Crispers locations are adjacent to Publix's supermarkets.
Publix Super Markets, Inc. is an employee-owned, privately held corporation abd was ranked No. 4 on Forbes' 2006 list of "America's Largest Private Companies."[1] The National Center for Employee Ownership lists Publix as the largest company in the United States with at least 50% employee-ownership. Publix's 2005 sales totaled US$20.6 billion, with profits of almost $1 billion. It was ranked #104 on Fortune magazine's Fortune 500 list of U.S. companies in 2006. As of 2006, Publix has been listed by Fortune magazine as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" for nine straight years. It is also listed by Fortune as one of "America's Most Admired Companies." Publix has also won various local, regional, and national industry and philanthropic awards, including the highest rank for customer satisfaction among supermarkets from the American Customer Satisfaction Index.[2]
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[edit] Market
Publix's main competitors are Albertsons, Food Lion, Kroger, Sweetbay (formerly Kash n' Karry), Wal-Mart, and Winn-Dixie.
Included in each store are grocery, deli, bakery, produce, floral, meat and seafood departments, with some stores having a café, sushi, pharmacy, in store photo-lab and liquor store.
In addition, there is a service provided where a special order can be requested, where non-regularly stocked or rare items as well as carrying previously hard-to-find food items can then be ordered, including some that are normally only found at health food stores, including organic meats, fruits, and vegetables; In addition, vegetarian and vegan products; hypoallergenic foods; and other specialty food items can be ordered.
Publix Greenwise Markets is a concept the company is trying in response to the increase in the number and profitability of health food stores and increasing awareness of nutrition, and will focus on natural and organic items, similar to a Whole Foods Market. This is an expansion of a concept that already has been running for several years, as most stores already have a Greenwise section. The first two stores will be in Miami and West Palm Beach.
[edit] History
George W. Jenkins opened the first Publix market in Winter Haven, Florida, in 1930. In 1934 his single store managed $120,000 in sales. The next year, in 1935, he opened a second location, the Economy Food Store in Winter Haven. Despite the Great Depression, his stores actually managed to attain financial success.
In 1940, Jenkins (affectionately called 'Mr. George' by his employees) mortgaged an orange grove to build Florida's first supermarket. His "food palace" had piped-in music, air conditioning, cold cases for frozen and refrigerated items, in-store donut and flower shops and electric-eye automatic doors. The supermarket became very popular among shoppers, but World War II materials shortages prevented him from building more for a few years. In 1945 Jenkins purchased the 19-store All American food stores chain and converted them into Publix Super Markets.
In 1951, Publix moved its headquarters to Lakeland, Florida, and built its first distribution warehouse there. At the same time, it began to close the old All American stores and replace them with brand-new stores. Publix crossed $50 million in sales and $1 million in profit for the first time in 1956. In 1957, the donut shop in each store was expanded into a full-service bakery.
By 1959, Publix was the dominant supermarket chain in central Florida, and began expansion to southeast Florida. The company built a distribution center in Miami, Florida in 1963, and also started providing deli services at that time. In 1970, sales crossed $500 million, and reached $1 billion in 1974. This was the same year that stores began to open in Jacksonville, Florida.
In 1980, Publix became the first large grocery chain to utilize Universal Product Code scanning in all its stores.[citation needed] In 1982, the Presto! ATM network was launched, and the company soon installed ATMs in every Publix Super Market. Sales crossed $5 billion in 1989. The first store outside of Florida opened in Savannah, Georgia in 1991, and distribution and manufacturing facilities in Lawrenceville, Georgia followed soon after. Stores were soon opened in South Carolina (1993), Alabama (1996) and Tennessee (2002). Publix also currently operates six "Pix" gasoline-convenience stores.
By the end of 2006 Publix will have completed the implementation of its new point of sale terminals, replacing the previous generation of IBM terminals. The new system, Retalix Storeline combines a Hewlett-Packard RP5000 terminal with a touchscreen system and an Epson thermal printer. A separate LCD screen for customers lists the last few scanned items, recipe ideas and Publix advertising.
[edit] Pharmacy
Publix's first in-store pharmacy was opened in 1986 in Altamonte Springs, Florida. In 1995, one-third of the stores had a pharmacy, a percentage now standing at 77%. Publix Pharmacies have ranked number one for customer satisfaction in supermarket pharmacies, for four years in a row by an independent research company.[3]
[edit] Ethnic specialties
On April 21, 2005, Publix opened its first Hispanic-themed supermarket, Publix Sabor, in the Puerto Rican majority neighborhood of Buenaventura Lakes just outside of Kissimmee, Florida. The 40,000-ft² store, renovated from a pre-existing Publix Super Market, almost exclusively features Hispanic ethnic products, and has a cafe in the Deli/Bakery area that serves Hispanic food. A second store was opened shortly after in Hialeah, Florida. Publix recently announced that they would be opening two more Sabor stores in the Miami area, one would be a remodeled store in the Flagler Park area and the location of the other is still to be determined.
On January 9, 2006, Publix announced that it would open a Carrabba's Italian Market at the University Walk Publix in Sarasota, Florida, in conjunction with Carrabba's Italian Grill.[4]
The Publix in Fort Lauderdale has a section dedicated to products imported from the UK, such as Marmite and Cadbury's chocolate, to meet the needs of the local British expat community.
[edit] Online shopping
Publix also tried to enter the on-line grocery business with PublixDirect, in hopes of serving the southeastern United States. PublixDirect's website launched on September 24, 2001. Unfortunately the attempt was during the dot-com crash, alongside competitor Webvan's well-publicized fall from grace. Publix found that demand for online grocery shopping in the Miami area testing location was not as great as the company had expected, and shut down PublixDirect on August 23, 2003.
[edit] Controversy
On October 4, 2005, Publix sued Visa and MasterCard for unfair business practices over their unannounced and non-negotiable raises in merchant account fees.[5] Visa lost a similar lawsuit filed by Wal-Mart in 2004.
In 2006, Bank of America banks pulled out of Publix supermarkets leaving customers displeased due to its in-store convenience. Nevertheless, Suntrust Banks fill many Georgia stores, improving customer satisfaction significantly.
In 2003, Publix supported a successful bill that prevents people from suing if their land is polluted by dry cleaning chemicals. Dry cleaning chemicals can penetrate floors and seep into groundwater. Publix had in the past lost a lawsuit filed by a nearby property owner whose property had been contaminated in this manner.[6]
In 1997, a settlement was reached in a class action lawsuit concerning gender discrimination. Publix paid $81.5 million in damages to its female employees and made policy changes in its workplaces as a result.[7]
[edit] Locations
Publix currently has 888 supermarkets in the following states:
- Florida - 647
- Georgia - 163
- South Carolina - 37
- Alabama - 28
- Tennessee - 13
Distribution Centers are located in:
Florida:
Georgia:
Manufacturing Facilities are located in:
- Atlanta, Georgia - Bakery Plant
- Deerfield Beach - Dairy Plant, Fresh Foods
- Jacksonville - Fresh Foods
- Lakeland - Bakery Plant, Dairy Plant, Deli Kitchen, Fresh Foods, and Printing Services
- Lawrenceville - Dairy Plant
[edit] References
- ^ The Largest Private Companies. Forbes.com (November 9, 2006). Retrieved on 15 November 2006.
- ^ Publix named top supermarket for customer satisfaction
- ^ Publix pharmacy ranked No. 1 for customer satisfaction
- ^ Carrabba's Italian Market to Open in Sarasota Publix
- ^ Publix Announces Suit Against Visa and MasterCard
- ^ Environmentalists grumble over bills
- ^ EOC, Publix settle gender discrimination suit
