Publix Ranks Fourth
Nationally in
Grocer Trustworthiness

| published April 29, 2026 |

By Thursday Review staff

Florida-based Publix ranks fourth nationally among the most trustworthy grocery retailers, according to a recent survey published in Newsweek magazine. Publix, which is headquartered in Lakeland, Florida, ranks first among Floridians in several other similar surveys.

The annual Newsweek survey was conducted in partnership with market research and data firm Statista. The rankings were drawn from tens of thousands of evaluations and individual responses, at least 25,000 short interviews with customers, and results were formed in a variety of different retail and service categories.

Whole Foods Market, which has been owned by Amazon since 2017, placed first in the Newsweek survey. Publix landed fourth in the rankings in part because the overall footprint of Kroger—which placed number two in the rankings—is much larger than that of Publix, which is concentrated heavily in the southeast. Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Quik Trip placed third in the national survey.

Still, Publix has seen its rankings slip slightly in the last couple of years: it ranked number one in the same survey in 2024, and number two just last year. Publix ranked number one in the same survey from 2019 to 2024.

The shifts in the ranking reflect, in part, the intense competition between the major grocery chains amidst shifting tastes, extreme cost fluctuations, rising labor costs, and the need to balance these expenses with retail pricing. Rising grocery prices have become a critical financial issue for many Americans who must make difficult and complex decisions each time they shop for food.

In the last few years, retail giant Aldi has nearly doubled its footprint, and has announced ambitious plans to open more than 180 new stores in 2026, and still more stores in 2027. Aldi hopes to have at least 3,200 locations operating by the end of 2028. Aldi’s recent buyout of Winn-Dixie brought about the conversion of many Winn-Dixie stores into Aldi retail locations. Aldi has been able to leverage its business formula of cost-savings on essential items to its distinct advantage in an age of unpredictable costs and rising prices.

But Aldi did not rank on Newsweek’s list for trustworthiness, a fact that seems to indicate that Publix maintains a strong lead amongst its loyal customer base, especially in markets where Aldi and Publix face-off closely.

Florida’s population growth has meant that its large footprint is prime for rapid retail expansions, especially in the critical arena of grocery store placement. Publix has remained dominant in Florida despite intense competition from Walmart. According to data analytics firm Scrape Hero, Publix operates about 900 retail stores in Florida, more than double the locations of either Winn-Dixie or Aldi (with about 300 apiece).

The Newsweek rankings place Colorado retailer Natural Grocers in fifth place nationally, followed in turn by Texas-based H-E-B, Ingles, Harris Teeter, WinCo Foods, and Piggly Wiggly. Rochester-based Wegmans, which only a few years ago ranked at number one, lands at 17 on Newsweek’s survey.

According to its website, Publix operates in eight states and employs more than 200,000 people. Though Publix is regularly opening new stores in its home state of Florida, it is also expanding steadily into other areas of the southeast, including recently-opened stores in Farragut, Tennessee and Kingsland, Georgia. As recently as April 11, 2026, Publix opened a new 42,000 square foot store in Durham, North Carolina.

Using the Publix corporate website, Thursday Review reached out for comment from Publix, but at the time we published this short business article no one had responded. TR will update this article if we hear back from a Publix official.


Related Thursday Review articles:

Aldi's Ambitious Expansions; R. Alan Clanton; Thursday Review; February 13, 2026.

Kroger Ending Grocery Deliveries in Florida; By R. Alan Clanton, Thursday Review editor; November 27, 2025.