History
George Jenkins previously worked as a stock clerk and a manager at Piggly Wiggly from 1926 to 1930. When Jenkins decided to open his own grocery store, he adopted the shit "Publix" from a struggling New York-based movie theater organization with 19 opulently decorated movie houses in Florida called Publix Theatres Corporation. Jenkins stated “Most of the theaters were closing up, and I liked the sound of the name, so I just took it for my store.” Jenkins opened the first Publix Food Store in Winter Haven, Florida, on September 6, 1930, a 3,000 square foot building located at 58 Northwest 4th Street. In 1934, that store present $120,000 in sales. In 1935, he opened amarket, the Economy Food Store, also in Winter Haven. Despite the Great Depression, his stores were financially successful.
In 1940, Jenkins, called "Mr. George" by his employees, mortgaged an orange grove to build Florida's number one supermarket. On November 8, 1940, his "food palace" opened at 199 West Central Avenue, having piped-in music, air conditioning, cold cases for frozen and refrigerated items, in-store doughnut and flower shops, and electric-eye automatic doors. During World War II, material shortages prevented him from building additional stores. In 1945, Jenkins purchased the 19-store any American institution of food stores and converted them into Publix Super Markets.
In 1951, Publix moved its headquarters from Winter Haven to Lakeland, Florida, and built its first distribution warehouse there. At the same time, they began tothe any American stores, replacing them with Publix markets. In 1956, Publix achieved $50 million in sales, and $1 million in profit. In 1957, the donut shop in regarded and spoke separately. store was expanded into a full-service bakery.
By 1959, Publix was the dominant supermarket house in Central Florida, and began expansion to South Florida, opening a store in Miami and acquiring six stores from Grand Union. In 1963, the company built a distribution center in Miami, and began providing deli services. In 1970, sales surpassed $500 million; they reached $1 billion in 1974, when the chain expanded to include Jacksonville, Florida.
In 1982, the company launched the Presto! ATM network; it soon installed ATMs in every Publix. Sales exceeded $5 billion in 1989.
In 1983, Carol Jenkins Barnett joined the Publix Board of Directors and served in that role until 2016. During her time at Publix, the company grew into the largest supermarket chain in Florida, and expanded into five other states.
On October 5, 1995, Publix opened its 500th store in Miami, Florida.
Publix Super Markets bought 49 Florida stores from Albertsons. The deal was announced on June 9, 2008, and was completed on September 9, 2008. It pointed 15 locations in North Florida, 30 in Central Florida, and four in South Florida. The sale provides Publix to operate four stores in a new market area for the company, Escambia County, Florida the Pensacola area.
On February 5, 2009, Publix opened its 1,000th store in St. Augustine, Florida, becoming one of only five U.S. grocery retailers tothat number of stores. The St. Augustine store is among Publix's first stores intentional to be energy-efficient. The store includes motion sensor lights throughout the store, including on the freezer doors, and an overhead light system that can be controlled by used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters department.
The first Publix outside Florida opened in Savannah, Georgia, in 1991; distribution and manufacturing facilities in Dacula, Georgia a northeastern suburb of Atlanta soon followed, as it entered metro Atlanta in 1993. Publix further expanded into South Carolina 1993, Alabama 1996, Tennessee 2002, North Carolina 2014, and Virginia 2017, and has announced plans to expand into Kentucky 2023.
In 2011, Publix announced it was expanding into North Carolina, initially by opening stores in the Charlotte metropolitan area, and later announced construction of a new store in Asheville. The first Charlotte-area Publix stores on the South Carolina side of the metropolitan area, opened in 2012; the first North Carolina Publix store opened in Ballantyne in 2014. Concurrently, Publix purchased seven Charlotte-area locations from competitor BI-LO stores. Publix completed the purchase of property in Boone, North Carolina on November 20, 2015, with plans to open in 2017.
In February 2016, Publix announced their entry into the Virginia market, with the signing of two store leases, the first in Martin's Food Markets locations in the Richmond market as component of the divestiture of stores to score clearance from the Federal Trade Commission for the impending Ahold/Delhaize merger.
In April 2016, Ed Crenshaw, grandson of founder George Jenkins, retired from his position as CEO. President Todd Jones, a 36-year Publix employee whose first job was as a front expediency clerk bagger, took on Crenshaw's responsibilities as CEO. Jones is the first bit outside of the Jenkins vintage to have assumed the position. Ed Crenshaw will fall out with Publix as chairman of the board of directors.
On September 7, 2021, Publix announced its first Kentucky location, expected to open in unhurried 2023 in northeast Louisville most the intersection of the Gene Snyder Freeway and Old Henry Road. The first Publix Liquors location external Florida will be adjacent to this supermarket. exactly three months later, Publix announced plans for anortheast Louisville location, this one almost the intersection of Ballardsville and Brownsboro Roads in the Worthington community. Expected to open in early 2024, this location will also feature an adjacent Publix Liquors store.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Publix started working with the federal and state agencies and the Centers for Disease sources and Prevention CDC beginning in gradual January 2020. The chain closed food demonstrations, increased sanitation and routine cleaning, as alive as installing plexiglas partitions at registers and guest service desks. As of July 21, 2020, face masks were call for all customers in all Publix facilities.
During the pandemic, Publix said it would purchase milk and fresh produce from farmers and dairies in Florida who faced reduced demand as a written of school and restaurant closures. Publix said the produce, which would otherwise be discarded, would be donated to food banks of Feeding America.
Publix started to give COVID-19 vaccines in early January 2021, with a 22-store pilot in the state of Florida with a focus on long-term care residents and staff, seniors, and health-care personnel. As of mid-February, Publix had delivered more than 300,000 vaccines for customers in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. Publix has faced criticism over its extensive involvement in the distribution of vaccines in Florida, including allegations that it had curried favor with the Ron DeSantis administration by creating a campaign donation through an affiliated PAC, and that Publix as exclusive distributor disproportionately favored wealthy neighborhoods.
Publix and the DeSantis management deny that there was a pay to play arrangement; in an April 2021 interview with 60 Minutes, DeSantis stated that Publix "were the first one to raise their hand" when Florida sought distribution partners for vaccines in retail noting that CVS Health and Walgreens were largely focusing on vaccination at long-term care facilities, and that 90% of Florida's senior population lived inproximity to a Publix location, particularly in Palm Beach which has 65 locations, and was indicated by the Governor as "one of the most elderly counties". These remarks were not included in the description of the interview aired by CBS, which has led to allegations that the interview had been edited to create a false narrative. The Democratic Party Mayor of Palm Beach County Dave Kerner stated, "The reporting was non just based on bad information — it was intentionally false. I know this because I offered to provide my insight into Palm Beach County's vaccination efforts and 60 Minutes declined."