Shoshy Ciment/Business Insider
The hot food section at Wegmans was impressive.
- Wegmans and Publix are two regional grocers with cult followings.
- Both grocery stores fill their shelves with their own in-house brands and have sizable hot food sections and bakeries.
- We visited a Publix in Florida and a Wegmans in New York to see which store was better and found that Wegmans, though smaller was the superior store.
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Wegmans and Publix are two regional grocers with some of the most devoted followings in retail.
Both grocery stores are located in specific regions in the US. Publix has 1,237 stores in the Southeast while Wegmans has just 101 stores in New England and the mid-Atlantic regions.
Perhaps it's the localized distribution of the stores or the charming customer service that cultivates such strong customer followings. Both stores fill their shelves with their own in-house brands and have sizable hot food sections and bakeries. Whatever the reason, both Publix and Wegmans, though technically underdogs in the grocery world, are fan-favorites.
We visited both stores to see which regional grocer was better. Though the competition was tight, Wegmans, the smaller chain, won for a few crucial reasons, including in-store dining and bar options as well as a superior store design.
Here's what we saw: