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Publix

Publix Super Markets, Inc. (commonly known as Publix) is an American supermarket chain based in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, it is an employee-owned, privately held corporation and was ranked No. 4 on Forbes' 2006 list of "America's Largest Private Companies. The company's 2007 sales totaled US$23 billion, with profits of over $1 billion, ranking #107 on Fortune magazine's Fortune 500 list of U.S. companies in 2007. Supermarket News ranked Publix No. 8 in the 2007 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2006 fiscal year sales. Based on 2006 revenue, Publix is the fifteenth-largest retailer in the United States. Publix's slogan is "Where Shopping is a Pleasure".

Publix has operations in five states: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. It employs over 140,000 people at its 952 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 specializing in salads; some Crispers locations are adjacent or built into the already existing deli department in select Publix Super Markets.

Publix's main competitors are Albertsons, Aldi, BI-LO, Bravo, Bloom, Bruno's, Dollar General, Food Lion, Food World, Fresh Market, Goodings, Harris Teeter, IGA, Ingles, Kroger, Kmart, Piggly Wiggly, Reids, Save-A-Lot, Sweetbay, Target, Trader Joe's, U-Save, Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, and Winn-Dixie.

History

George W. Jenkins opened the first Publix market in Winter Haven, Florida, in 1930. In 1934, his single store made $120,000 in sales. In 1935, he opened a second market, the Economy Food Store, in Winter Haven. Despite the Great Depression, his stores were financially successful.

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 chain of food stores 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 new stores. In 1956, for the first time, Publix crossed $50 million in sales and $1 million in profit. 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. In 1963, the company built a distribution center in Miami, and began providing deli services. In 1970, sales crossed $500 million; they reached $1 billion in 1974, the same year in which stores began to open in Jacksonville, Florida.

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, soon followed. Stores were soon opened in South Carolina (1993), Alabama (1996), and Tennessee (2002).

With the launch of PublixDirect on September 24, 2001, Publix attempted to enter the online grocery business, in hopes of serving the southeastern United States. This occurred 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 testing area was not as great as the company had expected, and shut down PublixDirect on August 23, 2003.

Publix celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2005. During that time, it used the slogan, "It's Been Our Pleasure."

In early 2005, Publix renamed its checkout section from "Common Area" to "Customer Service". This change coincided with the beginnings of a new color and design scheme of the store's interior signage, which replaced the aging coral, navy blue and sea green design with emerald green, tan and gray. Continuing as of March 2008, Publix is changing its uniforms to match this new design.

Publix completed the implementation of its new point of sale terminals (PRICE — Publix Retail Improved Checkout Experience) in 2006, replacing the previous generation of IBM 4690 terminals. The new system combines a Hewlett-Packard RP5000 terminal running Retalix POS software with a touchscreen system and an Epson thermal printer. A separate LCD screen for customers lists the last several items scanned, the running total of the bill, customer savings, recipe ideas, and Publix advertising.

Market

Each store provides specific products and services in its grocery, deli, bakery, produce, floral, meat and seafood departments. Some stores have cafés, sushi bars, pharmacy departments, or adjoining liquor stores.

In addition, Publix provides a comprehensive "special order" service. Irregularly stocked or rare items from almost all departments, even some products carried only by Publix's competitors, can be ordered through this service. This service includes some products that are normally only found at health food stores, including organic meats, fruits, and vegetables; in addition to vegetarian and vegan products; hypoallergenic foods; and other specialty food items. This service can be used at any Publix customer service counter.

A recent addition to the stores is its "Aprons" cooking demonstrations. Customers are encouraged to sample easy-to-make, nutritious dishes prepared at in-store kiosks and take a recipe card home with them. All recipes are developed in house using easy to prepare or prepackaged ingredients, often available at the Aprons kiosk.

The customer service counter also provides check cashing (this service includes personal checks and, in some cases, payroll checks, but not third-party checks or large dollar-amount checks), money orders, Western Union services, photo processing, Rug Doctor rentals, and lottery tickets. Some stores also provide Ticketmaster services.

Publix Sabor

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-square-foot 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, an area which is predominantly Cuban. 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 under consideration. Two other Publix will open in Miller Square and Westchester Mall in Miami.

Publix GreenWise Markets

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 six stores will be in Palm Beach Gardens, Boca Raton, Vero Beach, Tampa, Naples, and Coral Springs. The first GreenWise Market opened on September 27, 2007 in Palm Beach Gardens.The 2nd Publix Greenwise Market opened in Boca Raton on May 29th, 2008. It is located in Boca Village Square right next to Town Center mall The store includes an extensive array of salad and hot bars.

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.

Publix announced in August 2007 that it began offering several types of antibiotics for free to its customers. Customers must have a prescription and are given up to a 14 day supply for free. However, there are concerns in the medical community that this may help contribute to an overuse of antibiotics which leads to antibiotic resistance, a serious public health concern.

The Little Clinic

In early 2006 Publix and The Little Clinic signed an exclusive agreement to open medical clinics within Publix stores. The first clinics were opened in the Atlanta, Miami, Orlando and Tampa markets in the first half of 2006. The Little Clinic health-care centers are staffed by nurse practitioners who can write prescriptions, provide diagnosis and treatment of common ailments and minor injuries, and offer wellness care like physicals, screenings, and vaccinations.

Current projects

In July 2007 Publix opened a Carrabba's Italian Market at the University Walk Publix in Sarasota, Florida, in conjunction with Carrabba's Italian Grill. This miniaturized version of the restaurant prepares several Carrabba's recipes for carry-out.

In select markets, Publix is also conducting trials of other various specialties, including a cologne and perfume fragrance department, in conjunction with Camrose Trading.

Publix is also experimenting with a gourmet deli at its Lake Mary Collection store in Lake Mary, Florida.

Publix Pix & Publix Liquors

Publix also currently operates eight Publix Pix gasoline-convenience stores. Locations are limited during the trial basis of the concept. Also in the works is Publix Liquors, a stand-alone liquor store. The liquor sales will be in a separate entrance on the exterior of the building, as required by local laws. The company is modeling this after many other grocery chains. Currently, all Publix Pix and Publix Liquors locations are adjacent to a Publix Super Market.

Crispers

In 2002, Publix invested in the Lakeland-based restaurant chain Crispers, which concentrates on health-conscious fare. Publix intends to grow the chain.

Albertsons Purchase

Publix Super Markets bought 49 Florida stores from Albertsons. The deal was announced on June 9, 2008 and was completed in September 9, 2008. It included 15 locations in north Florida, 30 in central Florida and four in South Florida. The sale allowed Publix to operate four stores in a new market area for the company: Escambia County.

Awards

Publix has won various local, regional, and national industry and philanthropic awards, among them:

In March 2007, Publix was ranked No. 19 in the BusinessWeek Top 25 list of "Customer Service Champs".

Private Label Buyer magazine named Publix as "Retailer of the Year" in their April 2007 publication.

Publix has been listed by Fortune magazine as one of the "100 Best Places to Work in America" every year since the list was created in 1998. It is one of only three companies on the list with more than 100,000 employees. It is also listed by Fortune as one of "America's Most Admired Companies."
Publix was given the highest customer satisfaction rating among supermarkets by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
The National Center for Employee Ownership lists Publix as the largest company in the United States with at least 50% employee-ownership.
Publix is among the top ten National Corporate Leaders for the United Way, giving $35.8 million through both employee and corporate donations in 2007.

Controversy

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.

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.

On October 4, 2005, Publix sued Visa and MasterCard for unfair business practices over their unannounced and non-negotiable raises in merchant account fees. Wal-Mart won a similar lawsuit against Visa in 2004.

Locations

As of October 10, 2008, Publix has 952 supermarkets in the following states:

Florida - 680
Georgia - 175
South Carolina - 42
Alabama - 34
Tennessee - 21

Distribution centers are located in:

Florida

Georgia

Lawrenceville

Manufacturing facilities are located in:

Florida

Deerfield Beach - dairy plant, fresh foods
Jacksonville - fresh foods
Lakeland - bakery plant, dairy plant, deli kitchen, fresh foods, printing services, corporate offices, IT, Massive Datacenter.