3 Publix Habits Tennesseans Get Wrong at the Chain’s Current Stores

Farragut’s Publix opened in March at roughly 48,400 square feet, and Nolensville’s opened four months before it.

Publix has been in Tennessee since 2002.

Neither store is laid out the way the chain’s first Tennessee stores were.

These are the Publix habits Tennesseans get wrong at the chain’s current stores.

1. Skipping the Pharmacy Drive-Thru

Publix built a full-service pharmacy with a drive-through window into its Farragut store, and its Nolensville store lists the same window.

Farragut Press put that store at 48,387 square feet.

Pull up at the window and pick up a prescription without setting foot inside.

Shoppers who default to parking and walking in skip the window and stand in a line they didn’t need to join.

The car never stops.

Grocery Dive lists a drive-thru pharmacy among the features of Publix’s prototype stores.

Publix also lists the drive-thru as a store-level pharmacy service, so the window isn’t something only a new building gets.

2. Assuming There’s No Place to Sit

An upstairs mezzanine waits inside Farragut’s new Publix, a spot good for grabbing lunch, grabbing dinner, or working through a laptop meeting.

That mezzanine isn’t standard everywhere.

A Publix media relations manager told Farragut Press that a lot of the chain’s newer stores have one, but not every store does.

The same paper counted free in-store Wi-Fi among what the Farragut store opened with, which is what makes an hour of laptop time upstairs workable.

Nolensville’s Publix opened a few months earlier and took the same idea in a different direction.

Publix’s account of the Nolensville opening describes a cafe where a shopper can sit down and eat lunch.

Shoppers who have never seen a chair in a Publix grab their bags and head for the door instead of stopping to eat.

Publix built the room. Nobody told the regulars.

3. Walking Past the Front-Door Deli

The deli at Farragut’s Publix sits right by the front door, not tucked toward the back near the meat case.

Farragut Press describes a Publix deli lineup that runs from pub subs to sushi to burrito bowls.

Publix told Grocery Dive it uses the prototype as space and opportunity allow, and that burrito bowl bars have gone into existing stores too.

Not every Publix has it.

Shoppers who know a Publix deli as a sandwich counter near the meat case never think to check the board for sushi or a burrito bowl.

Publix’s announcement for the Farragut store lists a full-service deli counter, and says sushi chefs hand-roll selections there daily.

Farragut’s front-door deli is built for a different kind of stop.

Tennessee's 62 Publix Stores

Publix has 62 stores in Tennessee, according to the company's facts and figures page.

That is one of eight states with a Publix in it, a long way behind Florida's 897 stores and Georgia's 219.

Two of them opened barely four months apart.

Spring Hill came first, in September 2025.

Nolensville followed on Nov. 19, and Publix handed commemorative reusable bags to the first 95 customers in line for its 95th anniversary.

Farragut opened Mar. 26.

Trade press covered a 54,000-square-foot store planned for Clarksville, north of Nashville, back when the chain was opening its 30th Tennessee store.

What All Three New Stores Share

Publix lists its Spring Hill, Nolensville and Farragut stores at 48,387 square feet apiece.

Each of the three carries a full-service pharmacy with a drive-thru window and Publix Delivery through Instacart.

Each deli is listed with more than 200 artisan cheeses from the United States and around the world.

Spring Hill's announcement names Publix private label all-natural and organic GreenWise chicken in the meat case, and fresh, never-frozen fish at the seafood counter.

Farragut's bakery is listed with cakes, cookies and pies, while Nolensville's takes custom wedding cake orders.

Same footprint, three towns.

What the New Layout Adds

Farragut and Nolensville belong to a Publix design going into new and renovated stores alike.

Grocery Dive covered that prototype at a Wesley Chapel, Florida store before the design reached Tennessee.

Supermarket News described that layout in April 2026 as wider aisles and self-checkout lanes, with expanded deli options and larger bakery, meat and seafood displays.

The same report has Publix adding olive bars, popcorn stands and Pours beverage bars to new or remodeled locations since 2025.

Remodels get the look, not only new construction.

Self-checkout arrived late by comparison.

Gainesville, Florida coverage in April 2021 described Publix as joining a self-checkout trend Walmart and Target had already set, and traced nearby Publix installations back to 2020.

The gap explains a lot.

Some longtime shoppers have still never used one at their regular Publix.

The Ten-Item Cap, Removed

Publix removed the ten-item limit from its express lanes in August 2026.

The chain tested it in Miami first, then began rolling it out companywide.

Publix says self-checkout stays as an option for shoppers with smaller orders.

The cap is gone.