Where Publix Ranks Among Best Grocery Stores

We know Publix is headquartered right here in Lakeland, Florida. A new report shows where Publix ranks among the best grocery stores in the United States. Newsweek came out with their annual ranking of America’s best retailers. Part of that is revealing the best supermarkets. They came up with this report based on surveys from over 7,000 shoppers across the country. Shoppers were asked questions about retailer’s prices, selection, atmosphere, and customer service amongst other things as well.

Where Publix ranks among the best grocery stores for 2024 is very high. Publix came in #3 overall. The #1 overall supermarket is called Great Wall supermarket. It is a modern Asian American supermarket chain that has only 22 stores across the United States.

Check out the Top 10 best grocery stores below.

Publix is an employee supermarket chain that was founded right here in Florida. It was founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins in Winter Haven, but now their corporate office calls Lakeland home. On Publix’s website, they say that they are one of the country’s 10 largest volume supermarket chains and employ over 255,000 people. As of July 2024, there are 1,376 store locations across the southeast United States. 870 of those stores are right here in Florida. Additionally, they have 10 distribution centers, including one in Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama. They also have 10 manufacturing facilities.

There have stores in 8 states. There is only one store in the state of Kentucky. Additionally, there are only 20 stores in Virginia. They keep expanding into more states, but how many more states will they open stores in?

Publix today announced their new lineup of limited time summer ice cream flavors you'll see in stores soon. There are 8 new summer Publix ice cream flavors in total. 5 have my name written all over them. The other 3 you can have.

You may already have some of these in the freezers at your Publix now. But the limited-time summer flavors will disappear August 30, according to the Publix website.

You might see a Publix ice cream truck with the new flavors There are 3 Tampa are stops coming up. Look for them in Lakeland June 29 at Common Ground Park, in Tampa at Sparkman Wharf June 30, or at the St. Pete Pier July 4.

Related: 10 Tampa area ice cream spots to beat the Florida heat

Before I get to the 5 summer Publix ice cream flavors I've gotta try, here are the 3 runner ups that aren't so much for me... but you might like. I'm not an almonds fan so Coffee Almond Fudge will be a no for me. I'm not so much into pecans either so I'm going to pass on the Caramel Turtle Cheesecake. And my lack of love for nuts continues... I'm going to say "no thanks" to Hula Hula Macadamia.

Now, here are the 5 I'm going to be definitely looking for that BOGO on.

This one doesn't take me back to my childhood so much like the others do.  I didn't become a coffee drinker until way late in life.  It started when I was a morning guy on the radio in California.  That caffeine kick was a necessity when I had to be up every morning at 5.  A mashup with chocolate sounds good to me.  Publix describes this one as "cold brew coffee flavored ice cream with crème filled chocolate cookie pieces throughout."  So is it ok to eat this one first thing in the morning?  Asking for a fri... me, asking for me.

I didn't get a chance to get over to Plant City for the Florida Strawberry Festival this year.  So this will have to do.  Publix describes it as "strawberry flavored ice cream with ribbons of strawberry flavored sauce, studded with pieces of white chocolate flavored strawberry pecan bark."  Now I mentioned I'm not a big pecans fan.  But I'll still take this one for a spin for sure.  

Any dessert with peanut butter and chocolate is an instant yes for me.  I'm Team Reese's Peanut Butter Cups all the way.  This one isn't affiliated with the candy, but it sounds like the ice cream equivalent to me.  Publix describes it as "peanut butter ice cream loaded with chocolatey covered peanut butter buckeye candies and swirls of thick fudge."  I'm 100% in.

The ice cream truck menu only needed one thing to make me happy as a kid.  Ice cream sandwiches.  As simple as they are, that's what summer tastes like to me.  So I'm way into this one.  Publix describes it as "chocolate ice cream with decadent chocolate cookie crumb swirls and chunks of flavored chocolate sandwich cookies."

You probably heard me talk about this one on the show today. This one's got my name all over it. I love lemon flavored desserts. And being a kid from Maine, blueberries have always been a part of my life. Blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, I'll even buy blueberry coffee when I see it. So to see these 2 flavors together? Psh. No brainer. I'm all in. Publix describes it as lemon crème flavored ice cream with lemonade flavored flakes and blueberry flavored swirls.