Never been to one. And never been to Rochester or Buffalo either. I'll take Paris, Tokyo or Lake Como!
That said, I think Publix is quality and a pretty consistent place to shop for groceries. I want to shop Whole Foods, but I don't want to pay their prices. Those are basically the options here unless you buy groceries at Target (I do sometimes) or Walmart (never!) ... As a child, we had so many chains here ... everything from A&P to Grand Union to Pantry Pride to Winn-Dixie (only the last one still exists here and with about 85% smaller market share than say 25 years ago).
I miss Bristol Farms from my days living in SoCal. Nothing anywhere beat them.
One thing i've unquestionably learned is that a grocery you previously thought you loved or hated can change your opinion with a different store branch. It's something I noticed about both Publix and Whole Foods. And while I detest Wal Mart as a corporation, we have a surprisingly nice singular Wal Mart store where I live currently (the employees are generally very nice and it's kept quite clean, even the clientele tend to look somewhat more upscale than i'd ever have imagined from my previous negative experiences with Wal Mart). Doesn't mean Wal Mart is suddenly a good store, but that particular one is surprisingly well run from what I had previously seen from the company (it was also built in a pretty nice part of town and attracts a more discerning type of customer than what one would normally see from a lesser Wal Mart built near dilapidated parts of cities).
I used to be a huge Publix fan. I visited Florida often as a child and we always wished they'd expand up north into Tennessee (our old home). Years later this happened and it was very welcome (especially as a number of our older groceries had gone belly up by then). Though I think one reason it remained a good choice up there was because they were competing with another rather big grocery, Kroger. Both stores consistently had huge crowds during this competitive phase. When there's a lack of decent competition, i've noticed the groceries tend to suck a lot more, including keeping decent stock, prices and employee behavior. That's how it was when Kroger didn't have much competition in our area until Publix came along, they changed dramatically when that happened as they found themselves forced to compete against an aggressive competitor. Once Publix arrived, there began a really huge pricing war between the two (particularly offering deals such as double or triple coupons) and I noticed the Kroger stores began to dramatically improve their employee behavior and other aspects.
Unfortunately my opinion of Publix has become rather split after moving to Florida a few years back. From my experience they are very hit or miss. And it could be because there just isn't much competition except for Wal Mart or some smaller health stores such as Whole Foods. Sweet Bay and Winn Dixie are the closest thing you get to any sort of decent competition, and recently Sweet Bay just closed a number of stores in our area (not at all impressed with them from my experience either- generally high prices, hit or miss fresh foods such as produce as well as bad employees from what i've seen of several locations in my general area). Winn Dixie is pretty good but it's a rather long drive to get to the nicer one (there's one closer but the management isn't very good at that one). Publix doesn't seem to have much to worry about competition wise where I live. This may explain why i've seen a decline lately.
There are exceptions, but Publix's employee behavior has become hit or miss lately. Recently i'ver come across an alarming amount of unpleasant and snotty people working there, and some that seem annoyed whenever you're forced to interact with them (there's one in particular that consistently leaves a nasty taste in my mouth whenever I visit). They are also beginning to price themselves above even Whole Foods (which btw also used to have a very unpleasant and snotty staff in my location when I first moved here but has begun to clean up their act lately in an attempt to compete with Publix). Trader Joe's also seems like a nice store, particularly if you're like me and tend to go for produce, nuts and other such fresh items. Very friendly staff from the only two locations I've had experience with. It could be different in the areas where you live Spirit (again all groceries are different and this includes both management and pricing within the same chain), but from my experience there are a number of good alternative stores that are trying to compete against Publix in terms of pricing and service. Even Whole Foods.
I've also noticed Publix is having a pricing war with Wal Mart lately as many of their customers have actually switched over to other groceries instead (i've heard a lot of people express displeasure with Publix as of late, and not too long ago the Publix corporate leaders got into a very Walmart-like situation regarding abysmal working conditions and pay of some of the employees on their corporate farms).
So I guess you could say it's like Disney parks- the quality of attractions in one park as well as the way it's managed and run is not indicative of the others scattered around the world.
