4 Things Publix Did in the ’90s That Floridians Still Miss

Once upon a time, Floridians could do their grocery shopping and banking without leaving Publix.

Barnett Bank installed teller windows inside Florida Publix stores in the mid-1990s.

That window is gone now.

Publix has let several things like that slip away over the years, and Floridians still notice every one of them.

1. Dressed Cashiers in Coral and Teal

Publix redid its whole look during the 1990s, trading its classic green for coral and teal.

Cashiers swapped their solid green vests for teal ones, each paired with a coral bow tie snapped right at the collar.

Fresh department associates got their own version, a coral-striped polo shirt instead of a vest.

The color didn’t stop at the uniforms.

Publix carried coral and teal onto its walls, signage, and shelf edges, so the whole store matched the people working in it.

Head to toe.

Shoppers who grew up with that look still spot an old photo online and name the decade before they ever see a date stamped on it.

A trip to Publix in 1994 looked nothing like a trip there today, when the front-service team wears a more vibrant green and bakery and deli associates wear gray instead.

2. Ran a Photo Lab up Front

Publix kept a full photo-processing counter running near the front of the store through the entire decade.

You handed over a roll of film on your way in and picked up a stack of prints, usually within a day or two, sometimes the same afternoon.

Publix says its Photo Lab was processing more than 2.5 million rolls of film a year within a few years of opening, and the department stayed busy well into the 1990s.

No app, no upload, no wait for a text alert.

Digital cameras changed all of that, and Publix closed its Photo Lab department for good in the early 2000s.

That counter never came back.

3. Let You Bank Without Leaving

Publix let shoppers cash a check or make a deposit without ever walking out to a separate bank.

Barnett Bank, then Florida’s largest bank, struck a deal with Publix in 1995 to open teller windows inside stores statewide, starting with a pilot in 10 to 15 Jacksonville-area stores.

A Barnett executive said at the time he expected a branch in every Publix in Florida.

That expansion happened.

You could grab groceries and handle actual banking in the same trip, teller and all, no separate parking spot required.

Cash a check on the way to the produce section, then finish the shopping list without ever pulling back out of the parking lot.

4. Opened a Smaller, Quick-Trip Store

Publix tried something different in 1995: a store about half the size of its usual supermarkets.

The chain opened a 27,000-square-foot store in Tampa, roughly half the footprint of a typical new Publix at the time, according to the International Directory of Company Histories.

That downsized store skipped the pharmacy and the health-and-beauty aisle, handing the extra room to the deli, bakery, and perishables sections instead.

The focus was speed.

Prepackaged deli meals took priority over a deep stock of dry goods, built for shoppers who wanted dinner solved in one quick pass through the store.

In and out, fast.

Florida’s Publix doesn’t run that downsized version today, at least not at that size or with that stripped-down department mix.

Shoppers who remember that quick in-and-out trip still say a smaller Publix would suit a fast weeknight run better than today’s supersized stores do.

Left Florida for the First Time

Publix spent its whole history as a Florida-only chain until the 1990s finally broke that streak.

The company opened its first store outside the state in Savannah, Georgia, on Nov. 20, 1991, and by the decade’s end, Georgia alone counted 100 Publix locations.

South Carolina got its first Publix in 1993.

Alabama followed in 1996, with a store in Owens Cross Roads.

Three states, one decade.

Florida’s Publix had always belonged only to Florida, so watching those trucks roll into three new states inside a single decade was something longtime shoppers had never seen before.

Self-Checkout Finally Reached Publix

Publix held off on self-checkout lanes far longer than many of its competitors.

Florida Publix stores didn’t start adding self-checkout stations until around 2020, and the rollout was still spreading store by store into 2021, when a Gainesville-area Publix confirmed it was adding five self-checkout stations during a store remodel.

Three decades later.

When self-checkout did arrive, Publix kept the traditional, cashier-staffed lanes running alongside it rather than replacing them outright.

Other Gainesville-area Publix stores had already made the switch by then. The Hunter’s Crossing Publix added four self-checkout stations more than a year earlier, and the Millhopper Publix added five the previous August.

The Jonesville store kept eight traditional, cashier-staffed lanes running alongside its five new self-checkout stations once the remodel wrapped, so the old way never fully disappeared even where the kiosks showed up.

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