Publix Panache

Publix, founded by George Jenkins in 1930, has been a supermarket trendsetter from its earliest years. Instead of a low-price approach, Jenkins emphasized high-style, opulent surroundings and a high level of service in the company’s stores. This strategy resulted in great success and fueled explosive growth for the chain through the second half of the 20th century. Publix was responsible for many store amenities that are de rigueur (ok, I’ll stop with the French vocabulary) in supermarkets today, including air conditioning and automatic electric-eye doors, which were both introduced in the early 40’s. Content for many years to service the booming Florida market alone, Publix did not venture into other states until 1992. The chain now has stores in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina as well.

The “winged” appearance of Publix store facades was introduced in the mid-50’s and was continued as a design feature on stores well into the 1960’s. Terrazzo floors were the standard as opposed to linoleum or vinyl. Some of the most striking features of the early 60’s stores were the elaborate, ten foot tall wall mosaics featured near many Publix store entrances. In his 1980 history of Publix entitled “Fifty Years of Pleasure”, Pat Watters quoted from a 60’s Look magazine article which described the purpose of the mosaics – to imply that Publix stores were “temples of plenty dedicated to the Goddess Housewife”.

The accompanying photos are of the Coral Ridge Shopping Center Publix (located in Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and were taken in 1962 when the store first opened, three years after Publix’s entry into the Miami market. Both the store and shopping center exist today, albeit in remodeled form, the store perhaps even more so than the mall itself. Malls of America has a great postcard from the shopping center’s early years here. The Publix store can be seen to the left.