It's the End of the Food World as We Know It (and Publix Feels Fine)

Food World #715 / Publix #356 / Future Publix #2043

4730 S. Florida Avenue, Lakeland, FL - Lake Miriam Square

Today's post is a presentation of Polk County retail

     Now that the blog is back and I got another former Albertsons location out of my backlog, let's spend some time today looking back at some of the news that broke over the summer while the blog was on break. While Winn-Dixie to Aldi conversions have been one of the hottest topics in the world of Floridian supermarkets of late (and I promise we'll be touching on that soon, and by soon, I mean my next post), I want to spend a little bit of time today discussing more about what Publix was up to this summer. While we lost another Publixsons at the end of July, old #4312 in St. Petersburg, we also lost another historically significant Publix store this summer as well - #356 in Lakeland. As you can probably tell by this store's strange facade, there has to be some kind of backstory to this location, and backstory there is. From what I've been told by others, Publix #356 was the company's flagship location, and as such, was a common place for Publix to test new ideas and concepts due to its close proximity to the corporate headquarters. As for the building itself, the design we see here was a rare prototype of which Publix only built two others like it, a building that was to be a showplace of concepts and ideas for the Publix of the future. That in mind, there's a lot to discuss about Publix #356 and what has transpired surrounding that building over the last 50 years, so let's get right into it and go back in time to the early 1970's, when Publix first began dreaming up this unique store that would be used to shape the Publix of today:

Thank you Sing Oil Blogger for clipping these news articles from newspapers.com for me

     Until the 1970's, the average "modern" supermarket was a roughly 20,000 square foot box with plenty of dry goods and frozen food staples, a butcher, produce, and in some cases a bakery. At least in the Southeastern United States, it was around the 1970's when the concept of a supermarket began to change into what we normally see around town today, when some companies began to push the limits on what grocery stores could sell, and what services they could offer. One of the most revolutionary supermarket concepts to arrive in Florida in the 1970's was Skaggs-Albertsons, bringing to the state 55,000 square foot "monsters" of a store, offering not just groceries, but full service delicatessens and bakeries, in-store pharmacy counters, full liquor stores, and an assortment of general merchandise all under one roof. With the pending arrival of Skaggs-Albertsons to Florida in 1974, a highly-anticipated event following the success of Skaggs-Albertsons' new prototype stores in Texas, Publix may have been growing a bit worried by the impact these large new stores may have on the Floridian supermarket scene. In response, Publix decided to design a "superstore" of their own, a 57,000 square foot showpiece of a store that would be the largest supermarket in Polk County, and one of the largest grocery stores in Florida at the time. As Publix executive Mark Hollis described the new prototype, he said Publix wanted to "create a large store which doesn't seem large to the shopper. We are trying to create the atmosphere of several shopping experiences under one roof." While Publix first dreamed up this "superstore" idea around 1973, probably wanting to time the opening of the new store with the arrival of Albertsons in late 1974, some folks living in the vicinity of the new Publix site weren't so thrilled to be living near this proposed "grocery palace". While Publix received preliminary approval to begin construction on their new South Lakeland store in October 1973, a group of concerned residents decided to take to the courts, and managed to get a judge to file an injunction against Publix, stopping all further work on the project.

     Publix spent almost 3 years in the courts trying to appease the needs of the nearby residents and their concerns over noise, pollution, and drainage. The drainage aspect was the big sticking point in all of this though, as the residents were particularly concerned about stormwater runoff from the new shopping center flowing into an existing pond behind the proposed site and polluting it. They were also concerned about the possibility of Publix filling in parts of the ponds to increase the buildable size of the shopping center, and the possibility of a dam being removed that controlled flow of water between the ponds. After numerous bouts of negotiating, Polk County finally approved Publix's site plan in early 1977, "subject to retention of an impermeable dam between a phosphate pit used for stormwater retention for the proposed development and the adjoining pit area which is used by residents for recreational purposes." Seemingly in the clear following the court's decision, Publix was finally free to build their new store, however, that wasn't the end of all the dam litigation between Publix and the neighbors. In the early 1980's (after the store had already been open for a few years) two nearby residents sued Publix for $2 million in damages in relation to the same dams that Publix thought would put these troubles behind them. The residents claimed in their lawsuit that the dams breached several times since their initial construction, discharging "an immense body of polluted water onto the plaintiff's property and resulted in severe flooding." This suit came after Publix had already settled another claim from different neighbors, Aubrey and Gloria Harper (some of Thelma's angry relatives?), about the same issue. Publix settled with the Harpers for an undisclosed sum, and agreed to purchase the Harper's property so they didn't have to deal with the issues anymore. As for the $2 million suit, a jury later found that Publix was not negligent for the damages caused to the dam, but was liable for the property damages, and awarded the two property owners $1,123 each for their damages. According to this article, Publix had tried to settle with those couples "in excess of $25,000 in cash and property" but they wouldn't take the offer, instead wanting to go before a jury hoping for a settlement closer to their original desired $2 million amount. However, in this case, the quest for greed backfired, but that's how the courts work sometimes. Anyway, at least all the legal troubles were worth it for Publix in the end, as this store ended up being quite the success for the company.

     Even though Publix was haunted by stormwater claims for a number of years after, Publix was at least able to begin construction on their new store in February 1977. While other superstore concepts arriving in Florida at the time were going for an "all under one roof" appeal with pharmacies and general merchandise, Publix took a different approach with their "superstore", focusing solely on food. The new store would feature 57,000 square feet of food with full-service meat, delicatessen, and bakery departments. In addition, the new store would also feature a full-service sit-down delicatessen-style restaurant with 100 seats, where shoppers could also get a sandwich or other meal before or after their shopping trip (possibly one of the first prototype Pub Subs, even though the true "modern" Pub Sub didn't debut until 1992).

Thank you duckman66 for clipping this article on newspapers.com

     In addition to all the fancy food services, the new store would also feature a fully computerized checkout and inventory system - the first of its kind in Florida. Three years after the universal product code (UPC) made its debut in the United States at a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, Publix was jumping on board to test out this revolutionary new technology. As defined in the article, the UPC is "the odd, rectangular arrangement of lines that have been appearing on more and more packages." I thought that was an interesting way to define this new technology, and this article does a good job of explaining how the UPC system works, and how people in the 1970's were somewhat hesitant about using them. In addition to all the explanation of how the ne technology worked, the article also shared a quote from Publix's long-time president Joe Blanton about why the new Lake Miriam store was chosen as the tester for this technology. Per Mr. Blanton: "At 57,000 square feet, this is our biggest store, 9,000 square feet bigger than our Tallahassee store and about twice the size of other stores we're building now. We could monitor the system easily in our headquarters city. And we thought it was time residents of Lakeland and East Hillsborough County had a choice of two concepts of supermarkets (Publix and Food World)."

     While all this talk of grandiose new features and higher-end services seems like something right out of a new full-line Publix store in the nice part of town, the new Lake Miriam location the company had been putting together for years wasn't actually opening under the Publix name - this monstrous new prototype was actually to be opened as a Food World. For those of you who may not know, Food World was Publix's discount grocery concept, launched in 1970 in Orlando. Over the next decade Food World was grown to 23 locations primarily clustered around Central Florida and Tampa Bay, the concept peaking in the late 1970's before its ultimate wind-down as the company entered the 1980's. With the economic turbulence in the 1970's, a lot of grocery chains were turning to discount formats to entice shoppers with good deals to stretch their money further, offering limited services in exchange for lower prices. Other grocery chains were operating similar concepts at the time, like A&P's WEO stores, and Jewel's Jewel-T chain, both of which had stints in Florida alongside Food World. Food World was Publix's first ever offshoot brand, notable in memory from its famous rotating storefront globes and very blue interior. Food World stores varied from newbuilds that mimicked Publix's 1970's store design to conversions of older Publix locations, some of which were becoming outdated for the parent brand. So all that being said about Food World, then why was this fancy new prototype chosen to open under that brand instead of the main Publix name?

Food World #715 of Lake Miriam Square shortly after opening, the "store of the future" as one news article proclaimed this building - Photo courtesy of Retro Roadside

     My friends, unfortunately, I don't have a clear answer to that question, as this Food World was very much unlike its other 22 counterparts that opened between 1970 and 1980, the year the last new Food World opened. The Lake Miriam Food World was a high-class operation with service departments, an earth-tone interior decor, a full restaurant, and a classy modern facade that lacked a tacky (although probably really fun to look at) spinning globe. This store looks a supermarket you'd find in an upscale neighborhood, and not something that would be comparable to Winn-Dixie's botched retooling of Harvey's! What's interesting too is that Publix went on to build two more exact copies of this building - one each in Miami and Apopka - which opened in March 1981 and December 1980, respectively, as regular Publix stores and not Food Worlds. After the opening of the Lake Miriam store, the last few Food Worlds to open from 1978-1980 all continued to follow the original pattern of opening in typical 1970's Publix buildings or were conversions of older stores, none of which took anything design-wise from the Lake Miriam store. The best insight I could find on why Publix chose to brand this unusual store as Food World instead of Publix comes from this 1977 article in the Lakeland Ledger, the Ledger's theory as follows: 

     Publix's decision to locate a Food World rather than a regular Publix store at the center has caused considerable comment among both the Lakeland business community and present Publix customers living in the Highlands [the neighborhood behind this store].

     Company officials have not directly commented on their decision, but it is generally believed the decision was based on the fact that Albertson's, another discount food chain, which operates around the clock, seven days a week, will locate at the intersection of Drane Field Road and S. Florida Avenue.

     I have heard stories in the past of how Publix was feeling a bit intimidated by Albertsons and their new concept in the 1970's, and the creation of this store lines up with Albertsons' arrival to Florida, and interestingly enough, with Albertsons' arrival just up the road in Lakeland too. Even if Publix was using the "Food World" name on this store just to make it seem more price-impactful like Albertsons, it was certainly one fancy discount store! It just seems strange to me that this location opened under the Food World name, while its two identical sibling stores in Miami and Apopka, which came about 3 years after this one, both opened under the Publix name instead. Maybe the other two were supposed to open under the Food World name as well, but Publix changed that at the last minute? (The last new Food World opened in 1980, around the time the two additional deluxe prototypes also opened, so the name switch could have been part of the phase out plan). If Food World was on its way out and with these stores being so different, I can see that as a possibility, as the image these stores were trying to present was more from the Publix playbook than Food World's.

     However, a few days before the new Food World was set to open, Joe Blanton went on to explain that "the decision to locate the 250-employee Food World in Lakeland was made because there are already 4 Publix stores here. [The company] is attempting to offer shoppers another shopping alternative by using Food World stores in currently entrenched Publix areas."

     Mr. Blanton's explanation seems like only a partial answer, as this store seemed too grandiose to be an excuse to cram a 5th location in town. While Publix may have wanted a little variety, I think the Lakeland Ledger's speculation about Albertsons coming to Florida may have been a factor too, as why else would Publix suddenly want to try building a superstore? In the same article that quote from Mr. Blanton came from, he did go on to say this too: "While the planned Albertson's store on South Florida Avenue, scheduled to open in February [1978] will most likely capture some of Food World's potential customers, [the company's] research showed there is ample trade to keep both stores busy."

Another view of the Food World storefront - Lakeland Ledger

     Regardless of name games, Food World #715 held its grand opening on November 15, 1977, featuring all the wonderful things I mentioned prior as far as services and amenities are concerned, along with other new amenities such as a "fresh fish and seafood department, a section for plants and flowers, including cut flowers and planting supplies, some apparel items, automotive supplies, and greeting cards". Seems strange thinking about buying clothes at Publix (or Food World, I suppose), but I guess that was a thing for a short period of time! The deli and bakery at the new Food World were also the largest in the Publix family at the time, and the deli would feature the much-touted sit-down restaurant, open all day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner service. Food World #715 continued to hold the title of the largest store in the Publix chain until December 1980, when its identical sibling Publix #227 in Apopka opened, splitting the title.

Wilkor of Lake Miriam Square storefront and interior just prior to opening in September 1977, two months before the neighboring Food World - Lakeland Ledger

     Alongside the new Food World, its co-anchors Eckerd Drug (visible in the 1977 color photo seen prior) and O.G. Wilson catalog showroom also opened around the same time. This store was the first in the Wilson's chain to be branded under the name "Wilkor", a new prototype that blended the traditional catalog method (where you'd fill out a slip to be fulfilled by a warehouse worker who brought your item out from the back) with a salesfloor of merchandise ready-to-purchase. The setup depended on the department, with toys, for example, being self-serve, while departments with pricier merchandise (like jewelry and electronics) followed the traditional catalog method. Overall, this shopping center was a place for lots of new ideas, between the Food World and the Wilkor store!

The original location of the Food World sign has been stuccoed over in the modern day, with the storefront sign moved to a new panel over the entryway.

     Being a testing ground for new ideas, one of the first new concepts to be introduced at the new Food World following its opening included a new "Bank 'N Shop" system, with the Lake Miriam Food World being one of 3 Publix stores in Lakeland to test the new technology. Bank 'N Shop was a special computer system installed at these trial stores where account holders at the Community Bank of Lakeland could make deposits, withdrawals, and loan payments from a special booth containing the Bank 'N Shop computer at any time while the store was open, including weekends. Bank 'N Shop was essentially an elaborate early ATM system, and a precursor to the Publix Presto! ATM that launched in 1982.

    

     As time moved on into the 1980's, Publix became less interested in its Food World stores. The last new Food World to open was the chain's North Lakeland store, Food World #724 at the Lake Gibson Shopping Center. While that linked article mentions another new restaurant prototype at the Lake Gibson store, "Deli World", that building would otherwise be constructed in the vein of a typical Food World, looking identical to a 1970's Publix store in all but name (and Deli World). Much like with Publix's other offshoot brands and concepts from the 2000's (Sabor, Greenwise, etc.), Publix seemed to grow tired of operating two different brands, and going deeper into the 1980's, the Food World stores started to become more like their regular Publix counterparts. By the mid-1980's, Publix decided to close or convert what was left of the Food World chain, and take it as a nice learning experiment for the remainder of the company's stores. By the end of 1985, only 3 Food World stores were left - the 3 Polk County locations (including the two in Lakeland, and another store in Auburndale). The 3 Polk County Food World stores lasted until 1988, at which point those remaining locations were folded into the parent brand as well, transitioning Food World #715 at Lake Miriam Square into Publix #356.

A grainy look at the site plan submitted to the City of Lakeland by Publix for the expansion of Lake Miriam Square in 1999.

     I'm not sure just how thorough Publix was with remodels when converting the remaining Food World stores into regular locations, so the decor lineage of this particular building gets a little murky for the span following the end of Food World's time and the early 2000's. Being a busy store, I can see it getting remodeled right away to Publix's late 1980's decor and then to Wavy Pastel sometime in the 1990's, but I don't know if one of those packages may have been skipped here. I do know that in 1999, Publix applied for and was granted a land use change for the empty parcels abutting the shopping center facing Lake Miriam Drive, paving the way for commercial development on the south side of the shopping center. It was rumored at the time that Publix was interested in bringing an entertainment venue to the property (such as a movie theater), however Publix later confirmed they wanted to extend the shopping center southward by demolishing the existing east-west wing of Lake Miriam Square and rebuilding it further south, and extending the north-south portion of the center (where the Publix was located) to meet the new section. At the time, while Publix was doing brisk business, the remainder of the shopping center was struggling with occupancy rates, so Publix hoped this overhaul would bring business back to the center. In addition to those already mentioned improvements, as part of this plan, Publix would also remodel their store, reconfigure the parking lot, and add another entrance to the shopping center from Lake Miriam Drive, a feature that Publix had initially been blocked from constructing at the beginning due to the original legal battles with the residents living off that road.

     However, after hearing of Publix's new plans for Lake Miriam Square in 1999, a new generation of residents living along Lake Miriam Drive took issue with Publix's revised ideas for the future of the shopping center. Due to the renewed discontent from the nearby residents, Publix laid low on their new plans until 2001, when the company tried to get its rezoning for the neighboring parcels, the last road block before the redevelopment project could begin. Unlike the issues the residents presented the first time around in the 1970's, which had to do with runoff and the ponds behind the store, the issues the nearby residents began bringing up in the early 2000's were all traffic related, especially in relation to the proposed new entrance along Lake Miriam Drive. At the initial hearing on the rezoning, Lake Miriam residents went on for over an hour at the zoning meeting about why the change should be denied. After another bout of protest with the nearby residents, Publix officially came out on top following a May 2002 city council meeting, where the council approved Publix's rezoning request and the new entrance along Lake Miriam Drive, which would include a new traffic light paid for by Publix. While Publix got their new entrance, their plans to expand the shopping center never came to fruition though, with the original center still standing today (minus a small piece removed to allow for the new Lake Miriam Drive entrance). However, with all the trouble Publix had gone through in relation to this store through the years, the partial victory of getting the new entrance was certainly a success!

     Even though Publix's plans for the renovations to the shopping center were approved by the Lakeland city council in 2002, construction did not begin until late 2004. It was at that time construction on the new entrance to Lake Miriam Drive commenced, as well as the interior remodel of the Publix store to Classy Market 1.0. While the entire interior of the store was updated at that time, the Classy Market 1.0 remodel of this location was notable as that was when this store's pharmacy was added. Prior to the Classy Market 1.0 remodel, the Lake Miriam Publix also piloted a new coffee service program in 2001, alongside a store in Tampa and 12 locations in Atlanta. The early 2000's also brought another pilot program to the Lake Miriam Publix - a Chinese Cuisine counter - which was a rare feature we'll discuss in more detail later.

     With all the remodeling and rebranding seen through the years here at Lake Miriam Square, the exterior of this building has seen its fair share of remodeling too. Prior to its opening as a Food World, The Lakeland Ledger described the architecture of the shopping center as being "basically Spanish with red barell tile roof and rough wood exterior trim". While a lot of what was described in that statement has since been stuccoed over, if you compare my pictures from recent times to the ones from the early Food World days, the building still retains much of the same design with the many pillars across the front and the airy walkway, just with a relocated front sign and a bit more stucco.

     After holding onto the Classy Market 1.0 decor for roughly 7 years, Publix #356 received its next remodel in 2011, becoming one of the first few Publix stores in the chain to remodel to the then-new Sienna/Classy Market 3.0 decor, the "premium" decor package Publix was rolling out at the time. This store received an extensive Sienna/Classy Market 3.0 remodel in 2011, followed by a deluxe "Sienna refresh" remodel around 2019, where a few odd additions to the existing Sienna decor were made. The vast majority of the photos you'll be seeing in today's tour came from my original 2017 visit to Publix #356, where we'll be seeing the store with its original version of Sienna. I revisited this store two times after that, both in 2024, where I tried to capture some of the changes from the 2019 refresh, and we'll see those more recent photos sprinkled in throughout this tour.

     As you'd expect from a high-volume deluxe prototype Publix, this was one of the handful of Publix stores that had an Aprons Cooking School until July 2023, when Publix retired the concept chain-wide. The Lake Miriam cooking school appears to have been added around the time of this store's remodel to Classy Market 1.0 in late 2004, opening in an adjacent storefront to the main Publix building in a slice of the former Eckerd store.

     With the vast majority of this store's backstory out of the way now, if I haven't put you to sleep yet, we'll press on with our tour of the building itself. Having seen much of the exterior through the backstory, we've now finally made it to the store's front walkway, an open and airy space with a wide sidewalk behind the tall pillars. The right half of the storefront contained a number of windows too, bringing a lot of natural light into the store's vestibule as well as the old restaurant space.

     Following the conversion of the Greenwise 2.0 store across the street into a regular Publix in early 2024, word began to circulate that once the renovations over there were completed, Publix was interested in replacing the aging store #356 shortly after. At the time of its demise, Publix #356 was the oldest Publix store left in Lakeland, dating back to the 1970's, and outliving a number of 1980's and early 1990's builds around town too. I'm a bit surprised Publix kept this store around for as long as they did, actually, considering its unusual design and flagship status in the chain. After word began circulating that this store would soon be meeting its demise, I revisited Publix #356 in February 2024 and took a few more pictures, although a closing date for this store had not been set at that time. Fast forward to June 2024, and I happened to be in Lakeland again, not too far from store #356. Being in the area, I figured I'd stop by again and take another walk around the place, knowing its days were numbered. What I did not know going into my June 2024 visit to #356 was that a closure date had already been selected for this store - July 6, 2024 - just a little over a week out from the day I happened to stop by here. Walking up to the store that day I was greeted by these signs wrapped around the bollards out front...

     …with matching posters taped to the front windows too. (And I still find it funny how Publix can casually direct shoppers to the store "across the street" on their poster while this one is closed for remodeling - how many other grocers have that luxury?!).

     The timing of my June 2024 trip couldn't have worked out any better, as I wanted to make a final visit to this store to clean up my photos one last time, having realized a little more about some of the unique features this store received in its 2019 Sienna refresh. Anyway, let's head inside and take a look at the vestibule, where we'll see one of the first odd changes from that refresh:

     Stepping into the vestibule in 2017, we were greeted, as usual, by our friends the green beans (and some older style Publix carts, too). However, a few years later, those green beans (and the old carts) were out...

     …and grapes were in! As far as I'm aware, this was the only Publix to feature the "welcome grapes", with an elaborate two-panel installation for the grape photo too.

     The bright afternoon sunlight was not helping me any with getting a decent photo of the grapes without a lot of glare, but in this photo you can see the grapes of the glare's wrath much more clearly.

     Just inside the front doors on my June 2024 visit was this large artist's rendering of #356's replacement, store #2043. Publix #2043 will be a 62U model, which is a 63,000 square foot design that will be based off the typical 55M template. The 55M is Publix's current deluxe prototype, which debuted in Tampa in 2023 and can be seen here. The new Lake Miriam Publix will be almost identical to that Tampa location as far as features and layout are concerned (per this article, and what the barista at the Greenwise across the street told me), however, the Lake Miriam store will be 8,000 square feet larger (hence why this store was labeled as a "62U" on construction plans instead of a "55M" like its typical counterparts would be). In addition to the main store, a liquor store will also be added to Publix #2043, replacing the liquor store at the former Greenwise location across the street. Why the move for the liquor store? Well, that has to do with local liquor laws. The former Greenwise store across the street is located in unincorporated Polk County, which does not allow the sale of hard liquor on Sundays. Lake Miriam Square is located within the limits of the City of Lakeland, which does allow the sale of hard liquor on Sundays. That addition of a day of liquor sales prompted the move, now that Publix has the space to add a liquor store at Lake Miriam Square.

     That easel we just saw was located in front of the hallway that led into the former Aprons Cooking School, which we can see here in 2017 when it was still operational (although a class was not in session at the time of my visit, which is why it looks closed here). While the cooking school was located in a piece of the former Eckerd next door, it was only accessible through the door seen here, located behind the catering counter next to the main entrance.

Photo courtesy of Wesley H. on Google

     In case you were curious to see what the inside of the cooking school looked like when it was operational, here's a photo I found of it on Google. I never took one of Publix's cooking classes myself, but the Sing Oil Blogger extensively documented one of his experiences taking a Publix cooking class at the Alpharetta, GA cooking school, which you can read more about here.

     Returning our attention to the main salesfloor, this is what you would see after stepping through the front doors and looking straight ahead. Entering this store, you're dropped off at the end of aisle 1, which resided just past Publix's BOGO bin land right inside the entrance. The customer service desk was located in an island just out of frame to my left, which we'll see in more detail in a little bit.

     Like a typical Publix from the late 1970's, aisle 1 is home to the dairy department, which lines the store's right wall. Additional dairy products were located in coolers to the left too, making this aisle the home to all things dairy in this store.

Photo courtesy of AxlCobainVedder on Reddit

     However, upon this store's opening as a Food World in 1977, dairy would have only been located along the wall toward the back of the aisle and wrapping around the corner, as the front of the aisle and the shelf to my left was home to juices (including prune juice, which got its own placard too! Prune juice would certainly not get that much prominence in a modern supermarket!). The interior photo above, shared to Reddit a few years back, actually shows the first aisle and interior of Publix #223 in Miami, however, Food World #715 in Lakeland would have looked identical to that after it opened too. I was excited when I first found this photo, as it's the only interior photo I've ever seen of one of these Publix "superstore" prototypes, and it's in living color too! Even into 2024, Publix #356 still kept the stair step design of the ceiling transition along the wall, and the same lower ceiling over the center store too. Sadly, the hanging box lights and wood paneling were decidedly too 1970's to keep into the present day, but the store's Deluxe Sienna decor does keep alive the very 1970's earth tone feel from that photo!

     Here's one last look at the dairy aisle, looking back toward the front of the store, before we see what's going on in the back right corner of the building in the present...

Photo courtesy of Foursquare

     …well, the relative present, anyway. Following this store's remodel to Classy Market 1.0 in late 2004/early 2005, the back right corner of the building was transformed into the store's pharmacy department. The meat and dairy coolers that were once located in this corner were shifted to either side, with dairy now comprising all of aisle 1, and meat further down on the back wall. Courtesy of a really old photo posted to Foursquare, we can get a glimpse of what the pharmacy (and the back wall of this store) looked like in the Classy Market 1.0 days.

     The pharmacy counter itself was built against the side of the meat prep area, with the back right corner carved out for a small alcove to house the pharmaceutical items. When this store remodeled to Sienna/Classy Market 3.0 in 2011, the bones of the CM 1.0-era pharmacy were left behind, with the department getting redone in the deluxe Sienna pharmacy styling with the glass tile trim and the layered ceilings.

     Here's a look into the alcove housing the pharmaceuticals and health & beauty products. In addition to this alcove, one of the main grocery aisles (aisle 5) was used to store the remaining health & beauty items that did not fit back here.

     In the alcove, here's a look back toward the pharmacy counter, looking across the store's back wall. While there was nothing wrong with this store's pharmacy, being a perfectly spec Sienna-style pharmacy counter in design (other than being in the back corner of the building, which is an odd placement for a Publix pharmacy - Publix always places the pharmacies near the front of the store), Publix decided to make a rather significant change back here during the 2019 Sienna refresh:

     …with the pharmacy counter and the alcove switching places in 2019! The reversed placement of the pharmacy and the alcove really threw me off when I came back here for the first time in 2024, as I thought I was remembering things wrong until I reviewed my 2017 photos when I got home. It appears the pharmacy flip had something to do with the addition of a BayCare Walk-In Clinic to this store, with this store receiving a large waiting area and examination room for the service, which can be seen at that link. I don't know how other grocery stores with walk-in clinics operate, but Publix's clinics are partnerships with local hospitals, and as such, are only available in select areas (with BayCare being a Tampa Bay-area partnership). Publix doesn't keep any doctors on staff, and the doctor you see in one of these clinics is part of the BayCare staff, who appears remotely on the screen of a large machine inside the examination room, like a fancy tele-doctor visit.

     Turning away from the new pharmacy counter, here's a look at the new health & beauty alcove, which now abuts the meat department. The new alcove seemed much darker and cramped compared to the previous one, and the lower ceiling seems to drive that feeling. Additionally, Publix's clearance rack also decided to crash the photo too!

     Leaving the pharmacy, we enter aisle 2, home to the international foods and canned goods.

     Returning to the front of the store, here's a (partially obstructed) look at the customer service island.

     My guess is the customer service desk was originally located in the front right corner where the catering desk/former cooking school entrance were, as that's how the similarly designed Publix #223 is still set up today. The service desk was most likely moved to its current location during the Classy Market 1.0 remodel, as service islands first made their debut during that era (and the move would correlate with the addition of the cooking school entrance in that corner too).

     Above the catering desk and the cooking school entrance was a mezzanine level, home to the store's breakroom (you can see the window at the top left of the picture). Publix 1970's/early 1980's stores usually had a mezzanine breakroom in that spot as well, along with a set of restrooms (like this store does).

     Here's a quick look across this store's front end, which has a number of quirks we'll talk about more later in this post. However, as you can tell by the above image (and probably a number of the ones you saw already), this is a crazy busy store. All 3 of my trips to this store happened on weekend afternoons (once on a Sunday, and twice on Saturdays), and this place was mobbed each of those times. While weekend afternoons are prime grocery shopping time, this place was really drawing everybody in - if you look closely, it appears all the registers are open, with lines, including at the self-checkouts!

     We'll escape the mob of people at the front end and dodge down this oddly quiet grocery aisle, where I'd like everyone to take notice of the floors.

     As you've probably noticed by now, even though this store was built as a high-end prototype and acts as a flagship location for Publix in a number of ways, it lacks one of Publix's most famous store-design features - terrazzo floors! Throughout this store, you'll see Publix's 1990's tile pattern, the gray and white Tetris pattern reserved for converted Publix locations and really old stores with beat up terrazzo or additions. That being said, this flooring was most likely installed whenever this store received its 1990's-era remodel, replacing the original floor tiling this store was built with. If you look closely at the 1970's interior photo from the identical Miami location posted earlier, it appears this store was built with a tile floor instead of terrazzo, featuring an avocado green stripe along the perimeter, transitioning into some white/off-white tiles going into the salesfloor. As much as Kmart liked to think otherwise, avocado green floors had outlived their welcome by the 1990's, so Publix came through and swapped that original flooring out (if they hadn't already when this store converted back into a regular Publix). The gray tiles pair well with the dark ceilings and the earth tones of Sienna/Classy Market 3.0, so these 30-year-old tiles didn't show their age as much as avocado green would have!

     Returning to the back wall, we have a closer look at the meat coolers here, followed by the seafood service counter further down near produce.

      Comparing the above photo with the photo prior, you'll also notice another one of Publix's changes from the 2019 Sienna refresh - the aisle markers were swapped out. Early Sienna stores received the aisle markers we've been seeing in my 2017 photos, which look like the same aisle markers from Classy Market 2.0, just with CM 2.0's round numbers swapped out in favor of Sienna's wood-grain rectangle numbers (which look out of place). In 2019, the more common dark green Sienna aisle markers were installed, which look much better in this store compared to the originals!

     Aisle 8 was home to beer and wine during my 2017 visit, however, the potent grapes were stripped away from their barley-based companion in the 2019 refresh. During the refresh, wine and greeting cards/party supplies swapped places, with wine getting a much more prominent placement in the grand aisle between produce and the bakery following that change.

     Following the beer and former home of wine, we enter the frozen foods aisles, aisles number 9 and 10.

     The lower ceiling over the grocery aisles raises again over the two frozen food aisles, making these aisles stand out from the rest.

Photo courtesy of Foursquare

     In addition to the Classy Market 1.0-era photo from the pharmacy, one other photo from that era was floating around on Foursquare, that being this one of the frozen foods aisles. As you can see, the freezers had the Sienna mustard yellow trim installed during the 2011 remodel, otherwise, all the coolers appear to remain the same. Also, doesn't this store look so much better with the ceiling tiles painted brown, as we've been seeing in my photos? While I'm not typically a fan of dark stores (a feeling you'd think a brown ceiling would create), I thought the brown ceiling really made this store come across as much classier without hurting the overall brightness levels, while the all-white ceilings just made this store feel old.

     The left side of the store is home to the grand aisle, which we can see the beginning of in the photo above. When this store was first built as a Food World, the deli department was placed prominently at the front (unlike other Publix stores from this era, where the delis were placed in the back of the building). The deli was one of the most grandiose features in this store when it opened, with its wide selection of foods and full-service sit-down restaurant next door (which has now been reduced into a little seating area).

The deli sign lights up too!

     Over the years, this store's deli department was toned down to feature the standard Publix deli fare, all while getting to keep its large, prominent space at the front of the store. Since this store was a high-volume flagship with a little extra room in the deli to spare, Publix did add a very unique feature to this store, a feature that was the product of a collaboration effort in the early 2000's which remained in service until this store's closure in 2024 - a Chinese Cuisine counter:

     What's interesting about Publix's Chinese Cuisine counter is that it began as a tenant-run service operating out of the deli area. In the early 2000's, Publix partnered with the owner of the popular Lakeland Square Mall food court restaurant China Max to open Chinese Cuisine counters in select Publix locations. The owner of China Max, Robert Lee, managed to grow his partnership with Publix to 10 Chinese Cuisine counters located throughout Florida and Tennessee, following the launch of the new concept right here at the Lake Miriam Square store. You can read more about Robert Lee and his partnership with Publix in this Lakeland Ledger article from 2004, where Mr. Lee described the upcoming launch of his signature bourbon chicken sauce at Publix, alongside his other ventures inside and outside of Publix.

      At some point Mr. Lee's partnership with Publix ended, with Publix taking over full control of the Chinese Cuisine counters as a subsidiary of the deli department, with deli employees doing the cooking and staffing for this counter. Outside of adding self-service Chinese food bars in the company's 56M prototype stores from the early/mid-2010's, it doesn't appear Publix expanded these full-service Chinese Cuisine counters following the end of the company's partnership with Mr. Lee. I don't know the locations of the other 9 Chinese cuisine counters or their fates, however, the counter here continued operation until this store closed for good on July 6, 2024. In reading comments on other websites about this store's closure, a lot of people were particularly upset about losing the Chinese food counter here, as this was the only Publix in the area with one (and the food was quite good too - we may be revisiting the topic of this store's Chinese food offerings before we wrap up this post). This store's replacement will have a deluxe prepared foods department based off what Greenwise 2.0 pioneered, with a pizza and pasta station, a burrito bar, and a sushi island, but no word on if the Chinese Cuisine selection will reappear in some form.

     Now that I've made everyone hungry talking about Chinese food, we'll throw the hunger pains to the pets in the room as we take a look down aisle 12, home of pet supplies (as well as hardware).

     Leaving aisle 12, here's a look at what we've covered so far along this store's back wall, looking back toward the meat coolers.

     Turning the other way, we find ourselves approaching the Seafood counter as we near the back left corner of the store.

     While I'm sure Publix has sold fish and other seafood since the company's earliest days in a variety of pre-packaged forms, from what I read in this store's grand opening articles from 1977, this may have been the first store in the Publix chain to feature a dedicated full-service Seafood counter like this, separate from the main butcher operation.

     The wall behind the Seafood counter had a fancy blue tile installed on it, which mimics the look of water, which I thought made for a nice (and appropriate) design. The sushi counter also appears to have been a product of the 2019 Sienna refresh as well, as I don't see the sign for it in my 2017 photo of the Seafood counter.

     Returning to the grocery aisles, the last few before we enter the grand aisle are home to non-food items, such as the cleaning supplies here in aisle 13...

     …followed by paper products in aisle 14.

     Leaving aisle 14, we'll turn the corner and enter the grand aisle from the back, beginning with this look into the store's back left corner, where we find the produce department.

     Much like a normal 1970's Publix store, produce is located in the back left corner of the building. However, unlike a normal 1970's Publix store, produce rounds out the "grand aisle" rather than being stuffed in a little alcove behind frozen foods, making for a showier presentation and more open feel of this department.

     With how much space this store's produce department occupied, two produce signs were attached to the left wall over the coolers, on the center of the stair-step pattern that wraps around the perimeter of the store.

     During the 2019 refresh, Publix decided to break up the blank-ness of the left wall and added a large photo of oranges between the two produce signs, appropriate enough for a supermarket in Florida! Typically, Sienna/Classy Market 3.0 included a close-up photo of an artichoke to compliment the produce decor, with this store being the only one I've ever seen with the picture of oranges instead. The only bad thing about the photo of the oranges is that it blends in with the orange paint on the walls, although the green artichoke photo can produce similar results when paired with Sienna's traditional brown and green color scheme used for produce.

     From produce, here's a look toward the front of the grand aisle where we find the bakery, and in front of that (in 2017), the greeting cards and party supplies.

    By the time of my 2024 visits, wine had made its move to the former greeting card space, with greeting cards being moved over to aisle 8 where the wine was formerly located. Unfortunately, while I managed to pick up on most of the changes this store received between my 2017 and 2024 visits, I didn't realize that wine had moved! The main reason I took the photo above was to showcase the fancy wine chilling machine, a feature typically reserved for high-end Publix locations. Had I known about wine's move, I would have taken a better overview photo of this area as it appeared near the store's end. Thankfully though, some other folks on Google have my back, and you can see a few more overviews of the relocated wine department here, here, and here.

     Floral was located between the bakery and produce along the left wall, with a decent amount of space for the department to spread its roots into the salesfloor a bit.

     In addition to the floral department's standard cut flower fare, turning to the left from where we just looked, we also see this store's floral department was home to a large display of live plants too, another rare Publix feature. Somewhere behind all of that foliage is the store's bakery, so if you give me a moment to take out my machete and cut back some of that overgrowth...

     …the jungle yields itself for this view of the bakery counter. While this store's bakery wasn't anything out of the ordinary in the present as far as selection was concerned (outside of having a bakery hot case installed during the 2019 refresh, which featured a selection of Hispanic foods like papas rellenas and empanadas that's hard to find outside of the South Florida Publix stores), the bakery in this store felt really big. One of the main attractions to this store when it first opened as a Food World was its large bakery, and even after having modifications made through the years (like the Sienna-era rounded lower ceiling and new floor tiles), this department kept its original large space.

Photo courtesy of Foursquare

     For fun, here's a photo from Foursquare dug up by the Sing Oil Blogger showing what this store's bakery looked like shortly after its Sienna/Classy Market 3.0 remodel concluded in 2011. Even prior to this store's refresh in 2019, the bakery cases were swapped out at some point between 2011 and 2017, as you'll see in my photo the bread racks to the left of the counter were moved to be in front of the new display cases, with a new graphic installed on the wall where the old racks were removed.

     Leaving the bakery, we'll take a quick peek past the deli for a look across this store's large front end.

     While quite open and spacious, the front end wasn't excessively spaced out like we've seen at some of the Publixsons stores featured on the blog in the past. This area was wide enough to handle the crowds this store pulled without jamming the main actionway and blocking people trying to shop.

     And like I said before, this store was packed every time I visited! On my first visit in 2017, it appears every one of the store's 8 staffed lanes was open, with a line at the bank of 4 self-checkouts too. Due to all the lanes being open, every one of my attempts to get a picture of the oddly-designed light cubes didn't work, with the lights glaring out the original design. While the original Sienna/Classy Market 3.0 cubes this store got were different than what we'd come to associate with that decor package, they weren't anything too overly funky (unlike these early prototype CM 2.5 lights). In the 2019 Sienna Refresh this store received, the original light cubes were swapped out for the standard late-Sienna designs with the slogans (like "Checkout to Smile About") on the sides, which you can see a few photos back.

     The front end of this store was also strange as it had the staffed check lanes double-stacked, much like you see at most non-super Target stores. Odd-numbered check lanes were in the front, while the even numbers were in the back. The only other Publix stores I've ever seen with a stacked check lane set-up similar to this were the Greenwise 1.0 stores - even the similarly designed Publix #227 in Apopka has the traditional single row of check lanes along its front end, however, #223 in Miami has the double-stack set-up like this store, as it also received a similar Deluxe Sienna remodel in the early 2010's.

     Following the staffed express lanes, the self-checkouts (as well as the Sienna apple) begin to come into view.

     In my above photo from 2017, here's a look at this store's 4 self-checkout stations. While many of you (especially those who are familiar with Publix outside of Florida) might not think anything of the scene in the photo above, seeing self-checkouts at a Florida Publix store in 2017 was an amazingly rare sight. While Publix had been using self-checkout in stores outside of Florida since the late 2000's, Publix held off on installing self-checkouts at most of its Florida locations until 2018 or so, when they started to appear in newbuilds and subsequent store remodels. Publix #356 may have been the first Florida Publix to install self-checkout, and considering the prototypical nature of this store, it would make sense if that was the case.

     Since I had never seen self-checkouts in a Publix before this day, I of course had to experience the novelty of using one of these units (not knowing that roughly a year later, more stores would start getting them). Eventually the lane on the back left side of the self-checkout bank opened up, and off I went:

     Publix stores these days use the typical NCR self-checkout stations a lot of other stores have (such as Winn-Dixie), but the ones here were big old Fujitsu units, which Publix rolled out to the first few Florida locations to introduce self-checkout in the late 2010's. This photo a few back, showing the front end during my 2024 visit, shows the light poles for the modern NCR units, meaning these lanes were updated at some point - possibly in the 2019 refresh. (And in case you were curious, on my two 2024 visits, I used the regular staffed lanes for my purchases here - you don't get good gossip about the fate of this store from a self-checkout machine!)

     Now that we've made our purchases, here's a look behind the check lanes at the seating area, which is the former home of the in-store restaurant. After the restaurant was closed the front end appears to have taken over a lot of this space, although I don't know what else may have been up here in the time between the restaurant's closure (which presumably occurred when this store transitioned away from the Food World name) and the Deluxe Sienna/Classy Market 3.0 remodel.

     However, even if this area isn't a full sit-down restaurant operation anymore, this seating area does provide ample space for eating a quick lunch picked up from the deli, which is what I did during my final visit to this store:

     Knowing my June 2024 visit would be my last to this store, I decided to try the food from the Chinese Cuisine counter. Knowing that was a unique feature to this store which may not reappear at the new location, I had to give it a try, and I was not disappointed. While you could by the various items at the counter a la carte per pound, I opted for the "Dinner #1" option, which included a choice of entree (I chose the chicken and green beans), lo mein or fried rice (I picked the lo mein), an egg roll (not pictured) and a fortune cookie. For $10, this was a lot of food! It was good too, and not really salty like some Chinese food can be. After trying this, I can see why so many people are concerned the Chinese food will not reappear in the new store!

     After eating my fill of chicken and noodles, along with the egg roll, it was time to open the fortune cookie. According to the wise musings of that pastry, it told me that "A lifetime of fulfilling goals is within your grasp". I don't know what the cookie was hinting at, unless it was taunting me about having never made it to my last Florida Peninsula Albertsons store in Homestead yet, but maybe I shouldn't over think the advice a cookie was trying to give me, especially since the lucky numbers on the back of this fortune didn't fulfill that goal of mine either!

     After finishing my lunch, I took a moment to take in Publix #356 for the last time from my table in the seating area, thinking about the fortune cookie's prophecy how everything here will look so different in just over a year. Eventually though, the time came to walk out those doors and back into the parking lot, where we'll go to finish off this post:

     Back outside on the front walkway, here's a look toward the store's entrance, partially obstructed by the rack of ran jackets used by the store's cart collectors.

     Turning the other way, here's a look toward the left side of the building. The dining area was located behind those windows to my right, with the wall ahead of me backing a service corridor that ran behind the deli and bakery.

     Publix #356 was a unique store with a unique history, and it will be interesting to see if its replacement, Publix #2043, will continue this store's legacy as the company flagship. Being slightly larger than a typical 55M, I wonder if store #2043 may have a few surprises to offer when it opens, such as new prototype features that expand upon the typical 55M's offerings. #2043 will be one to watch when it opens, as its proximity to corporate could lend itself some interesting features.

     At long last, we have made it to the end of this lengthy post. I was actually dreading writing this post for a long time knowing the backstory of this location was pretty involved, but its closure was enough to finally spark my motivation to get this store out of my backlog. I hope you didn't mind the information overload I presented to you today, but I think this unique Publix was worthy of all that detail!

    Anyway, since we've talked a lot about Publix these last few posts, we'll shift gears to all the madness that's been rolling out of Winn-Dixie recently. Next time on AFB we'll tour a unique Winn-Dixie that ended up becoming one of Aldi's earliest picks as a conversion candidate. While this Winn-Dixie wasn't super exciting in its last few years open, prior to its Winn Win remodel, it was a real oddball with a rare decor package inside. We'll talk about that more next time, and after that post, hopefully we'll get to talk about another former Albertsons store before long!

So until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger

P.S. - If you want to see some post-closure photos of this store, check out these links here and here.