9 Things Floridians Take for Granted About Publix

Publix has never laid off a single worker in nearly a century in business, recessions included.

That’s only one of many examples of the things Floridians take for granted about Publix.

1. A Sub Born in Georgia

Publix’s Chicken Tender Sub earned its nickname, the Pub Sub, from customers years before Publix ever put that name on a menu board.

Floridians treat the sandwich like something the state invented.

By Publix’s own account, the earliest paperwork for the recipe and prep steps traces back to 1992, tied to the opening of store number 33.

That store sat in Marietta, Georgia.

Some longtime Florida deli workers say they came up with the sandwich first, but Publix has never crowned a single one of them the true inventor.

Order the Chicken Tender Sub at a Publix in Ocala or Naples today, and you’re eating a sandwich that the company’s own paperwork ties to a store across the Georgia line.

2. Wrong Price, Free Item

Nearly every price tag in a Publix carries a promise most shoppers have never had to test.

Scan an item at checkout, and if the register rings up higher than the shelf tag or the weekly ad promised, Publix hands you that item free.

You just got groceries free.

Alcohol and tobacco sit outside the promise, since state rules keep those off the table.

Buy more than one of the mispriced item, and only the first item rings up free, though Publix charges the correct, lower price on the rest.

Even though most Floridians have never used the Publix Promise, many take for granted the peace of mind knowing it’s possible.

3. Liquor Lives Next Door

Beer and wine sit right on the shelf at a Publix, next to the chips and salsa.

Walk toward the vodka or the bourbon, though, and you’re leaving the building.

Florida law requires liquor and spirits to be sold from a separate, stand-alone store, a rule that traces back to a 1935 law passed just after Prohibition ended.

That’s why a second building called Publix Liquors sits beside so many Florida locations, complete with its own entrance and its own registers.

Blame an old statute, not a design choice.

Grocery chains in some other states can stock hard liquor on the same shelf as the beer, but Florida’s law still splits the two under separate roofs.

Publix has lobbied to keep that separation in place even as other retailers pushed lawmakers to change it.

The wall stays up, and Floridians who’ve never left the state assume it’s that way across the U.S.

4. No Landlord, No Loans

Writing a landlord a check every month isn’t how Publix likes to do business.

The company buys real estate outright, often in cash, instead of borrowing to grow.

Its share of company-owned locations climbed from about 11% in 2007 to nearly 32% within a decade.

It carries no mortgage.

Owning the ground under a Publix, or the whole shopping center around it, lowers occupancy costs and hands the company income from the other tenants who lease space nearby.

In Florida, it also skips a tax bill, since a leasing tenant typically owes sales tax on rent and an owned building doesn’t.

That’s how Publix has stayed a debt-free company for decades, even while it keeps building new stores.

You take for granted your local Publix will always be there.

From a foreclosure standpoint, that’s absolutely true.

5. Doubled Coupons

Publix once doubled the value of manufacturer coupons at the register, a perk that trained a generation of Florida clippers to take for granted that they could stack their savings.

Florida shoppers lost that perk earlier than most of the region.

Publix had already dropped coupon doubling in its Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina stores by the time its Georgia divisions finally stopped in December 2016, with a few Alabama and Tennessee stores holding on a little longer still.

That’s a long head start for one part of the region to lose a perk.

The buy-one-get-one tag replaced doubled coupons as the main event, and Florida runs its own version of that deal.

You have to buy two items to get the discount, never a single item at half price.

6. Only Eight States Away

Some Floridians assume every state has Publix.

Most states don't.

Publix operates in only eight states: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky, added in 2024.

Move to Ohio, Arizona, or New York, and the closest Publix sits a plane ride away.

That surprises transplants leaving Florida more than almost anything else about the move.

Retirees who spent decades loading a cart at their neighborhood Publix have to relearn a whole new grocery store somewhere else.

Old habits don't transfer.

7. Self-Checkout Arrived Late

Self-checkout took years longer to reach Publix than it did many competitors.

For years, every lane at a Publix had a cashier standing behind it, no exceptions.

Company leaders said they'd rather keep the jobs and the service than hand shoppers a scanner, even as other chains kept joining the trend.

That's changing.

Some remodeled Florida stores now add a handful of self-checkout lanes alongside the staffed registers, while many older stores still don't have a single self-checkout lane.

Shoppers who've tried the new lanes complain that the bagging scale trips an alert the moment a full bag comes off it.

Now Floridians across the state are realizing how good they had it before self-checkout lanes arrived.

8. Its Only Ballpark Name

Publix put its name on exactly one sports facility in the company's history.

That's Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, the company's hometown and the spring training home of the Detroit Tigers.

Publix paid $3 million over 20 years for the naming rights, a deal signed in 2016 that runs through 2036.

Every other stadium, arena, or field carrying a corporate name belongs to some other company.

Florida baseball fans who've watched a spring game there might not realize the grocery chain picking up the tab has never bought a naming deal anywhere else, before or since.

9. A Hispanic Concept, Gone

A completely different kind of Publix store once existed, aimed at Hispanic shoppers and called Publix Sabor.

The concept never spread past a handful of stores, starting with Kissimmee and Hialeah.

Both stores stocked more Caribbean and Latin American groceries than a standard Publix, ran a café serving café con leche and pressed sandwiches, and offered money transfer and bill payment services at the front counter.

Bilingual associates staffed the aisles, and the deli leaned on roast pork, rice, and plantains instead of the usual sub lineup.

Nothing else looked like it.