Publix #80 - North Miami Beach, FL (Jefferson Super Center)

Publix #80

850 North Miami Beach Boulevard, North Miami Beach, FL - Jefferson Super Center

Today's post is a presentation of Miami-Dade County retail

     While I started my day of supermarket visits with the former Albertsons store we all saw last time on this particular trip, I actually had a much more pressing reason to make the drive all the way down to Miami on this June morning. As you probably know, I've been trying my best to document as many of the really old Publix stores out there I possibly can - especially the pre-1980's stores that dwindle in number every year. While most Publix stores built before 1995-ish seem to be at risk of getting replaced at any time, the oldest of Publix's stores left in the fleet are especially endangered, given their age, small size, lack of uniformity, and somewhat datedness. While Publix's oldest stores have seen plenty of modernization through the years, these stores are still an interesting (and rapidly dwindling) look into the company's past. As of May 2024, there are 8 Publix stores left in buildings that date before 1970 (those being #50 in West Palm Beach, #70 in Fort Lauderdale, #84 in Coral Gables, #91 in Miami Beach, #94 in Coral Gables, #114 in Wilton Manors, #127 in Miami, and #139 in St. Pete Beach), and at least 4 of those stores have known replacement plans at this time (#50, #70, #84, and #94 - 4 out of the 5 oldest). Sadly, the store we'll be touring today was a 1960's ex-Wing Store that's already met its day with fate, but thankfully I managed to make the drive all the way to Miami just two days before it was set to close. It takes a lot to get me to drive through all the traffic to visit Miami, but to see this store was worth it, as tiny old Publix #80 had intrigued me for a while. I actually didn't think I was going to make it to this store in time, but things worked out in a very bizarre way and I made it in time - a bit close to the wire, yes, but I made it before this store was reduced to a pile of rubble. While we'll talk more about this store's fate in a little bit, let's start off with a discussion on its origins, as well as the origins of its former neighbor:

     Publix #80 was constructed to serve as the grocery component for North Miami Beach's new Jefferson Super Center store. Jefferson Super Center was part of the Miami-based Jefferson Stores, a chain of discount stores then-focused on the South Florida market. Jefferson Stores would later be bought out by Montgomery Ward in 1973 as part of that company's expansion into the discount sector, at which time the stores were renamed "Jefferson Ward" and Montgomery Ward took the chain national. However, in the days before Montgomery Ward and national expansion, Jefferson Stores was out to win over the shoppers of South Florida with its new "Super Center" concept. Compared to the regular Jefferson store, the Super Centers included 65 departments scattered about a single floor - from toys to clothing to electronics to hardware and even a prescription pharmacy, as well as a 200 seat auditorium to host fashion shows, cooking schools, and the company's weekly television show called "Big Break" (a talent show where contestants competed for prizes, which aired Sundays at Noon on Channel 10). Even with all that under one roof, Jefferson Super Center still lacked one thing - a grocery department. That's where Publix came into the picture, serving as the "grocery department" for the new North Miami Beach Jefferson Super Center, with Publix #80 later being known internally as "Publix at Jefferson Super Center" - a title store #80 held until its closure in 2021, long after Jefferson's was gone.

     Publix #80 opened for business on May 31, 1962, shortly after its neighbor Jefferson Super Center greeted its first customers. Store #80 would have looked just like the sketch at the bottom right-hand corner of the ad when it first opened, the classic 1960's Publix Wing Store.

     Even Publix's neighbor took out an ad in the Miami Herald to welcome the new supermarket to town, which I thought was a nice touch.

     Where there were plenty of older ads mentioning Publix #80 in them, I thought the one above from 1965 was particularly interesting as it features "Penny Publix" telling us all about the Publix Bonus Quiz Game. If you correctly answer the 19 fill-in-the-blank questions, it will reveal the name of the mystery product you would win for correctly solving the puzzle. If you complete the game today and "present your completed puzzle to the check-out girl at your favorite Publix market" you may get a weird look from the cashier instead of the mystery product, but if nothing else, if you solve the puzzle, you can be filled with a sense of accomplishment and give yourself a pat on the back! Here's a closeup of the puzzle if you want to try out your 1960's grocery knowledge (click on the picture for the full size):

     I managed to figure out the puzzle and what the mystery product was, so if you want to give this game a try, I'll post the answers down in the comments section of the post. There are a few tricky ones on there!

     Brain teasers aside, let's get back to the story of Publix #80! By the early 1980's, Publix decided to expand this aging Wing Store into a more modern design. Expanding into a portion of the parking area along the right side of the building, Publix was able to bring this former Wing Store to just around 35,000 square feet, with its 1980's size and redesign carrying on until this store closed in 2021 (with a few decor swaps in that time too, of course).

     The 1980's also spelled change for Publix's neighbor too. In 1986, Montgomery Ward sold the North Miami Beach Jefferson Ward store to Kmart, who opened a store of their own in the building later that year.

Photo courtesy of Ms. YN on Google

     The North Miami Beach Kmart, store #3613, eventually evolved to look like most Kmart stores of the 21st Century, just with a funky interior layout courtesy of the store's Jefferson origins (see here for more photos of this Kmart when it was open). Miami was always a strong market for Kmart, with a cluster of 7 stores remaining throughout Miami-Dade County into the late 2010's (an impressive number of Kmart stores for one county during that time). The North Miami Beach store was one of the Miami-area Kmarts that lasted into the late 2010's, when the remaining stores in the county began to close one by one until there was one left - the Kendall store, which is still open today by means that myself (and probably most others) don't even understand, especially with the store now a fraction of its original size and stuffed inside its old Garden Center. The strange happenings in Kendall aside, the North Miami Beach Kmart remained in operation until a closing wave announced in August 2017, with the store closing for good by the end of that year. After Kmart closed, Publix must have seen the opportunity to finally expand and modernize the tiny (and somewhat hidden from the road) store #80. By 2020, Publix officially had plans in the works for a new store on the site of the old Jefferson's/Kmart building, which was all part of a huge redevelopment project for the entire Jefferson Super Center property. The new Publix, store #1715, would open for business on June 10, 2021, with #80 closing for good the night before on June 9th. We'll talk a little more about the redevelopment project later in the post, but for now, let's take these next few minutes to remember the Publix that stood on this site for nearly 60 years before store #1715 came to be:

     As interesting as store #80 was from a historical perspective, as soon as I pulled into the parking lot I began to realize why Publix wanted to replace this location. #80 was very well hidden from North Miami Beach Boulevard, having been tucked into the back right corner of the old Jefferson Super Center complex. Also, the parking lot was extremely tiny. While the parking issues probably weren't as bad when the lot in front of the old Jefferson's building was accessible, with that closed off, there was hardly any parking at this busy little store. I had to circle the parking lot for a bit before I finally came across a spot at the very back of the lot.

     The facade we see here dates back to the store's early 1980's expansion, which is when this store's tile murals were also installed (which we'll look at in much more detail toward the end of the post). The marble you see around the windows is another classic Publix trait. Publix used marble on their store facades from the days of George Jenkins' "dream store" opening in 1940 until the early 1980's, when I'm sure marble became way too expensive of a building material for a supermarket chain to use on just about every new store. The marble we see here was redone when the store was expanded, as the marble extends down into the store's addition area as well, and looks uniform across the facade.

     Stepping inside the store, you enter directly into the salesfloor behind the check lanes, into the area that once housed all the BOGO bins. When I visited this store two days before it was set to close, it was crawling with groups of employees and managers running around taking fixtures apart and packing excess product into boxes (presumably to wheel next door to the new store). The two managers seen in this photo were taking down some displays near the entrance and loading shelves onto that pallet.

     Additionally, the photo above looks into the portion of the store that was added on in the early 1980's. During the expansion, the service desk was moved into the front right corner like you'd see in a typical early 1980's Publix store, with the restrooms to the right of the service desk. During that expansion, this store's layout was redone to resemble the floorplan of a typical early 1980's Publix, with only a few small quirks stemming from the expansion.

     Turning the corner past the service desk, we enter aisle 1. Like most 1980's Publix stores, dairy lines the building's right side wall. I'm actually surprised the above photo turned out as clear as it did, as this aisle was crawling with employees, including a circle of managers standing right behind me!

     Leaving the dairy aisle, we turn left at the back wall and find the deli alcove.

     A 1980's Publix build would have had a drop ceiling over the deli alcove, like this. Even with the expansion, 35,000 square feet was still smaller than the average 1980's Publix store (as those were usually around 40,000 square feet), so all the perimeter departments were crunched down a bit to get everything to fit. With the size constraints (and the presence of the support columns, marking our transition from the expansion into the original building), it appears Publix skipped the lower ceiling over this store's deli.

     As we'll see throughout this post, this will be one of the most well-presented and perfectly stocked stores you'll ever see two days before its closure. Outside of the managers taking down a few displays and some vendor product being picked up (or moved next door), this store looked as it would have during any other day. Even the deli and bakery were operating at full capacity.

     Here's a look across the store's front end, and as you can see, it wasn't a very big store. The front right corner was the emptiest part of the store as preparations to make the move began, and this area seemed to be where most of the managers were hovering around. 

     Also, this store had a random little express lane in the middle of the BOGO area next to the main bank of registers. Not sure what that was about, but I had never seen that before.

     Paper products seen here in aisle 3, at least for the next 2 days.

     While this store was expanded in the 1980's, I feel the floor tiles were redone at some point. The beige and brown tile pattern we see here resembles the common tile pattern Publix installed in the late 2000's in the Publixsons stores. I'm sure the original 1980's flooring was looking pretty rough by that time, so I wouldn't be surprised if Publix swapped out the floors in the late 2000's or when this store remodeled to Classy Market 2.5 around 2012-ish. The tiles we see go throughout the store, covering the terrazzo floors in the original portion of the building for a cohesive look throughout.

     Such perfectly-aligned cans for a store with only 2 more days left in business, but that's Publix for you. Even in the rare cases where Publix closes a store outright with no replacement, the closings are handled in the same manner as we see here, where Publix acts like a closing isn't even happening.

     Following the deli alcove on the back wall, we find the crunched-in meat and seafood departments. The service counters are aligned closer to the deli alcove in this store than produce, which a standard Publix build would have. Instead, the meat coolers extend down to produce, which is located in the back left corner of the store.

     Turning around, we can see the rest of the meat coolers as they extend toward produce.

     The "Let's work together" sign blocks it, but this is the celebrity of all grocery aisles, number 12, home to bread, wine, and popcorn - all the makings for a fancy movie night.

     Next door in aisle 13, we find the beer coolers to my left, with a row of frozen foods to my right.

     Leaving the grocery aisles, here's a look from produce across the store's back wall. All of the decorative signs that came with Classy Market 2.5 seem very crunched together on the wall with how condensed all the departments in this store were.

     The only picture of this store's produce department I got was this one, taken from the back aisle looking into the little alcove along the left wall in which the department was housed. This area must have been crawling with employees, or else I feel like I would have taken another picture or two over here (and trust me, there was no shortage of employees and managers scrambling around this day preparing for the move).

     Aisle 14 was this store's last aisle, and home to the rest of the frozen foods department.

     From frozen foods, here's a look into the front left corner of the building, home to the store's bakery department.

     The bakery displays were looking a bit few and far between on this day, but that's still an impressive amount of baked goods for sale in a store that was two days away from closing for good (and that's not counting the filled service counter out of frame to my right either).

     From the bakery, here's another look across the store's front end, as we prepare to say our final good-byes to Publix #80.

     Between the entry and exit doors was a small alcove Publix was using for their usual array of kiosks, although I wonder of that alcove had a more significant use back when this store originally expanded in the 1980's.

     As I mentioned earlier, when this store's facade was redone in the 1980's expansion, when the new tile murals were installed. While most older Publix stores received either 1 or 2 murals to decorate the facade, Publix #80 actually received 3 tile murals! The extra mural is what really intrigued me about this store. I don't know why Publix sprung for the extra mural here, but the mural series looked really nice running along the store's facade. All 3 murals depict a beach scene, inspired by this store's location along one of the major roads that takes drivers to the beach. The photo above shows the mural on the far-right side of the building, to the right of the entry doors.

     The other two murals, which are much larger than the one we just saw, are located to the left of the doors and spread out along the left side of the building. Mural #2 can be seen above, continuing the beach theme we just saw.

     The beach scene depicted by Pati Mills is much more serene than the crowds and parties typically associated with Miami Beach, probably drawing inspiration from the way the beaches around here looked in the area's early days.

     Here's an overview of the two murals located to the left of the doors. Pati Mills must have had her work cut out when Publix gave her word of this store's mural order! Every one of these tiles was hand painted, and there must be a few thousand tiles between these three murals (each column of tiles appears to contain 20 tiles, times however many comprise a row, times 3 murals - that's a lot of tiles to paint!). It's really a shame all of these tiles just came crumbling down with the rest of the building only a few weeks after this photo was taken.

     Sailboats, seagulls, palm trees - once you drive up toward Martin County about an hour and a half north of here (if traffic cooperates), you'll start to find these off-the-beaten-path rural beaches that more closely resemble the scenes depicted here.

     The final mural at the far left end of the building is seen here, completing our beach picture.

     I'd like to think someone managed to save these murals after the store closed, especially after witnessing the murals at the recently demolished stores #394 and #202 disappearing just before those buildings met the wrecking ball.

     A close-up of a portion of the left-most mural, where you can take in the detail that was put into all of these murals.

     If nothing else, I have these few photos of #80's murals to keep their legacy alive, much like my photos of the rest of the store.

     Reaching the end of the walkway, we find this rather unceremonious scene, a precursor of what was about to come for this building before long. The old Jefferson's/Kmart building was connected to the left side of the Publix store, and when that building was demolished, nothing was done to polish off the destruction marks left on the side of the Publix building since this building was going to be demolished soon anyway. That made for an eerie scene on the left side of the building, where you look through the jagged wall to see the back of the back of the Publix store that would soon be replacing this one.

     Here's a better look at the left side of the Publix building where the old Kmart was ripped away, giving us a strange look back at the murals we just saw at in detail.

     My final photo of Publix #80 shows off the store's entryway, as well as the banner out front announcing this store's upcoming closure in 2 days.

     Before we finish this post, I thought it would be interesting to check out a few aerial images to get a better understanding of old #80. In this Bing Maps Bird's Eye aerial image, you can get a better sense at how small this store was and how it was expanded. The pointed roof portion to the left was the original Wing Store structure (which you can easily pick out by that distinctive roofline - that's a dead sign you've found an old Wing Store if you see that roof in a satellite image). The expansion area begins along the line by that Lowe's Home Improvement icon, your precursor to what's this store's fate was.

     From the back of the building, you get a better view of the distinctive Wing Store roof line.

     Before all the redevelopment happened, this was how the property was originally laid out. As you can see, the old Jefferson's store was a large building with a large parking lot, typical of a 1960's discount store. Publix was the tiny building tucked behind the Jefferson's store, almost looking like an afterthought with the way the property was designed.

     For fun, here's a look at the Publix and Jefferson's building in their original forms, back when Publix still had its wings. The small building to the right of Jefferson's was the Hot Shoppe Restaurant, which was later absorbed into Kmart's garden center.

     Jumping to the present, here's what the site of the Jefferson Super Center looks like now. The new Publix #1715 has a much more prominent placement on the property, a large modern 48M with ample parking. Publix #80 was demolished to make room for a new Lowe's, which opened in July 2023, its opening completing the redevelopment. Even after all the changes, the name of the complex was kept mostly the same, rebranding from "Jefferson Super Center" to "Jefferson Plaza". Even though everything you see in the above image is new, it's nice to see the Jefferson name live on like that, a nice nod to the site's past.

Photo courtesy of Sarah V.

     

     We'll end this post with a photo of Publix #1715 from its grand opening on June 10, 2021. Publix #1715 looks like most other modern Publix stores, and you can see some additional photos of this store (as well as some additional photos of the original store #80) in its Google listing here. I also stumbled across this Reddit post with a few photos of #80 in the days following its closure, including an interior shot of the emptied-out store preparing to meet its demise.

     As sad as it was to see Publix #80 close, Publix #1715 is a huge improvement over the cramped quarters of the original store. We'll have to see if #1715 can last for another 59 years at this site like its predecessor did, but it seems like the odds of that happening are pretty good right now!

     Anyway, that's all I have for today's post. From old Publix stores we'll transition back to former Albertsons stores next time, so be sure to come back in two weeks for more!

So until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger