Publix or Fresh Market? You picked a favorite in supermarket survey. And the winner is ...
We asked you to pick your favorite supermarket.
Maybe you like the produce or hot food counter. Maybe prices mattered most. Perhaps location, decor or tradition.
Whatever your reason, you have selected the winner in our unscientific survey.
We started with a field of more than 20 grocery stores serving South Florida. From the nationally recognized giants to the mom-and-pop locals. We had Publix to Presidente. Winn-Dixie to Whole Foods. Aldi, Bravo and Costco. Sedando’s to Sam’s Club. Top Value, BJ’s, Milam’s Market and more.
Your votes took it down from a Top 10, to Top 5 to Publix and The Fresh Market as your Top 2.
The winner?
The Fresh Market and its European-styled food market approach beat the 93-year-old Lakeland-based Publix, the dominant grocery chain in Florida, with 859 stores in the state.
In the final countdown, 761 participants voted in the Herald’s poll and The Fresh Market managed 312 of those votes.
Publix, with its Pub Subs and BOGOs and where “shopping is a pleasure” proved pleasurable for 256 of the Herald survey takers.
Perhaps it’s a case of people in an unscientific survey that only asked respondents to click a choice rooting for the smaller, specialty market over the established sales-leader.
Or maybe The Fresh Market’s intimate approach to shopping is just more appealing to the respondents.
About the winner
▪ The Fresh Market: Inspired by a European trip, Ray and Beverly Berry opened the first 14,000-square-foot Fresh Market in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1982.
Today, there are about 160 boutique-styled stores — 46 in Florida — featuring produce, bins of freshly roasted coffee, floral stands, deli and other grocery goods.
The Miami Herald Grocer’s Poll isn’t The Fresh Market’s first victory in polling. USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards handed The Fresh Market a repeat win as the “Best Supermarket in America” for 2022.
Publix ranked No. 7 in the 2022 and 2021 USA Today polls that also included chains operating in Florida such as Aldi, Sprouts Farmers Market and Trader Joe’s.
