87 years of Publix

A look at the architectural evolution of one of the largest grocery chains in the United States.

Publix opened this Art Deco store at 916 North Massachusetts Avenue in Lakeland in 1954. It was replaced with a larger store in the 1960s.

A Publix in Sarasota taken in July 1961. (State Archives of Florida)

During the early 1970s, the chain expanded into Jacksonville after recording nearly $500 million in sales in 1970. During this era, the chain’s Lakeland industrial complex added a bakery plant and produce distribution center. Naturally, the industrial complex’s headquarters happens to be a birthday cake.

This West Lakeland warehouse complex is the former Publix corporate office.

A view of a Publix in Tallahassee in 1976. (State Archives of Florida)

The first Publix outside Florida opened in Savannah, Georgia, in 1991. Publix further expanded into South Carolina (1993), Alabama (1996), Tennessee (2002), North Carolina (2014) and Virginia (2017). In 2004, the chain retrofitted a historic Confederate printing plant building into a store in Columbia, SC’s Congaree Vista district.

A Publix located in Downtown West Palm Beach’s City Place. During the 2000s, the chain increased its investment in the development of urban store formats. City Place is a urban lifestyle center that opened on October 27, 2000.