The Wal-Mart Slayer: How Publix's People-First Culture Is Winning The Grocer War

[RockaFowler]

This goes back to that WalMart post.

Those of you that know about Publix know how clean and bright and wonderful their stores are.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/07/24/the-wal-mart-slayer-how-publixs-people-first-culture-is-winning-the-grocer-war/

Family-run Publix is both the largest employee-owned company and the most profitable grocer in America. Those two facts are linked, and they might be the formula for fending off Bentonville’s retail behemoth.

Passing through Publix’s sliding doors to escape the blistering Lakeland, Fla. heat is a welcome relief, but it isn’t just the air-conditioning that jumps out at you. As you walk the aisles, bag boys and clerks in sage-green shirts and black aprons routinely smile and ask questions: “How are you today? Can we help you with anything?”

When a middle-aged woman asks about a box of crackers, no aisle number is blurted out. Instead, an employee races off to find the item, just as he is trained to do. At checkout, shoppers move to the front quickly, thanks to a two-customer-per-line goal enforced by proprietary, predictive staffing software. Baggers, a foggy memory at most large supermarket chains, carry purchases to the parking lot. Even Publix’s president, Todd Jones, who started out as a bagger 33 years ago, stoops down to pick up specks of trash on the store floor.


On a side note, I used to work at Publix as a kid. Great place to work. If you see some of the people that work there today, most have been there for years. It makes you wonder.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. May they grow and prosper! And their customers right alongside them. n/t

[Dawson Leery]

2. Should Wal-Mart be destroyed, it would be to the benefit of all of us.

[factsarenotfair]

3. I guarantee you that sociopaths are now plotting to take over management and

make the company as evil as Wal-Mart, do some sort of Bain Capital asset stripping, or maneuver a hedge fund debt takeover.

[bunnies]

4. Never heard of Publix but...

anything that "slays" wal-mart is good by me.

[PotatoChip]

8. Never heard of the either, but I too agree.

[stevenleser]

5. They're one of the most expensive supermarkets in town in Florida. But I always shopped there.

I think that is pretty common.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

11. I made $8,000 last year...

My fiance made maybe $20k. We ONLY shop at Publix. It is NOT expensive at all. I can walk in there and buy groceries for the week and spend $20-30 less than I would at Winn Dixie or Walmart. Hell, the Publix private label stuff is just as cheap (if not cheaper) than WalMart's private label, and it tastes WAY better. I just bought groceries for the week (and I do a LOT of cooking), and spent $70. That included a bunch of fresh produce and fresh meats.

[stevenleser]

17. Interesting. In my experience, compared to places like Albertsons and Winn Dixie, Publix is more

expensive. Nevertheless, Publix is better and I would shop there.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

19. And on this, we agree! :D NT

[winterpark]

6. Don't gush all over Publix. While their corporate structure may not be as repressive as

walmart, it is still repressive. They also don't pay very well. Yes they're clean and trained to be friendly and pro-active, but they are expensive and keep alot of people part time to avoid paying benefits.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

9. Yes. When I had to go down to Florida to help my mom during her fight with lung cancer

and later when I was with my sister in her fight with cancer, I did a lot of shopping for groceries at Publix, Sweet Bay, and Winn Dixie. The Publix in Lehigh Acres was a disaster to shop in compared with the other stores, and I had this assumption because it was jammed with poorer looking people and wasn't as nice of an environment as Sweet Bay it would be cheaper. Boy was I wrong! Once I figured out how expensive that migraine-inducing experience was..I stuck with Sweet Bay for the most part.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

12. The 4 Publix's here in town

all have full time employees (a couple part timers that are high school kids), and they all have great benefits and great pay. I never worked for them, but I have plenty of friends that have. I was just talking to a cashier last night who was going over their benefits package. If a store is skimping on their employees, look at the store management, not the corporation. Wild Oats was the same way, but we had a store manager who kept all our hours down and kept raises to a minimum. Just so he could make the numbers look good.

[HockeyMom]

7. Mustard

I once asked a deli clerk where a certain kind of mustard was. She looked all around, couldn't find it, and said she would order a few for me which should be in by the end of the week.

I went around doing my shopping. When I was almost done, this woman came running down an asle calling after me, "I found it!" This was a good 15 minutes later. I just couldn't believe she spent all that time looking for mustard, and ME!

Personal service? You cannot get better than THAT!

[Cooley Hurd]

10. Wegman's in the Northeast is just like Publix

Their workers have excellent benefits and make careers out it.

[dionysus]

15. love, love, love my wegmans!

[reformist2]

13. Improved pay and working conditions will not come from voluntary consumer choices to pay more.

If this were true, Wal-Mart would have died the moment they made their notorious transformation from flag-waving "everything made-in-the-USA" to China-Mart.

[LibertyLover]

14. Publix is one of the few things

I like about visiting Florida. I love to go to their stores. It's a real pleasure to shop there. Good food, good prices, great people.

[RockaFowler]

18. They have the best deli, too

I love everyone of the people that work there. They remember you. Always do their work with a smile. It makes my shopping experience very pleasant!!

[joeybee12]

16. KNR

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. wish we had one in la

[Scurrilous]

21. I just got back from shopping at Publix.

It's the only grocery store I patronize.