Publix and Winn Dixie are two of the largest and well known grocery stores in the United States. With this being said, they do have some differences. As a grocery shopper, you may be looking at different aspects like price, product quality, store size, etc, but are not sure which one of these stores is better.
So, if you are a fan of both Publix and Winn Dixie, but aren’t sure which one is superior, I’ve done some in depth research to find out which one is the most suitable for different grocery shoppers. With this, you should be able to figure out which one of these stores fits your grocery shopping needs.
Which is Better Publix or Winn Dixie? In terms of pricing, Winn Dixie offers cheaper pricing than Publix across multiple categories. Winn Dixie also has higher product quality, according to the FDA. As for product variety, Publix offers more shopping categories and products. Publix also has 2.5 times more locations than Winn Dixie.
Is Publix More Expensive Than Winn Dixie?
We found that Winn Dixie is cheaper across more shopping categories than Publix. There are a few categories where Publix has an average lower price, but in general, Winn Dixie is more affordable.
Many shoppers keep their eye on price when shopping at different stores. More often than not, price is the ‘make or break’ when it comes to where someone chooses to shop.
So, because we know that price is such an important factor, we took a look at a variety of store brand products across 8 popular shopping categories to show you which store offers the best price in each category.
| Category | Publix Brand | Winn Dixie Brand |
| Beverages | ✓ | |
| Baking Goods | ✓ | |
| Canned Goods | ✓ | |
| Dairy | ✓ | |
| Dry Goods | ✓ | |
| Frozen Foods | ✓ | |
| Personal Care | ✓ | |
| Cleaners | ✓ | |
From what we found, Winn Dixie offered cheaper pricing in 5 shopping categories and Publix offered cheaper pricing in 3 shopping categories.
More specifically, Winn Dixie had cheaper prices for their products in the baking goods, canned goods, dry goods, frozen foods, and cleaners categories, whereas Publix had cheaper items in the beverage, dairy, and personal care categories.
Product Quality: Publix vs Winn Dixie
Product quality is a big decision making factor when it comes to deciding which grocery store to shop at. Most customers will shop at the store with the highest quality. So, I wanted to see which store had better product quality.
To do this, I went to the FDA’s product recall database to find out which store has had the most product recalls in recent years. Essentially, the store with the most product recalls is likely to have lower quality products
Total Publix Recalls: 15
Total Winn Dixie Recalls: 5
After taking a look at what the FDA’s database has, it seems as though Winn Dixie has significantly less product recalls in recent years. So, if you are a shopper that prioritizes quality, then you are Winn Dixie is a better place for you to shop.
Product Variety: Publix vs Winn Dixie
Both Publix and Winn Dixie are considered hypermarkets. This essentially means that they offer a large variety of products across different shopping categories. From food, cleaners, selfcare products, etc. they offer an incredible amount of items. However, which one has the wider variety of products?
I took a look at each of their online shopping stores to see what types of products each offers to get a better idea of which one offers more product diversity to their customers.
Publix offers more product variety than Winn Dixie. In terms of actual shopping categories Publix has 18 different shopping categories and Winn Dixie has 15.
This means that Publix offers 3 more shopping categories than Winn Dixie. Additionally, Publix offers more than 36,000 different products. This means that you will likely see more variety and diversity in what products are offered at Publix.
Which Has More Locations: Publix or Winn Dixie?
While each of these grocery stores are well known throughout the United States, they are both somewhat regional in terms of their locations. Both stores are concentrated throughout the southern states in the US. This means that they compete directly for customers in the same regions.
| Publix Locations | Winn Dixie Locations |
| Alabama | Alabama |
| Florida | Florida |
| Georgia | Georgia |
| North Carolina | Louisiana |
| South Carolina | Mississippi |
| Tennessee | |
| Virginia | |
Within their respective regions, each of them have quite a large amount of stores. More specifically, Winn Dixie has about 495 locations and Publix has almost 1300 locations.
Publix has more than 2.5 times the amount of stores that Winn Dixie has. This expresses how dominant they are, and it also explains why they are much more of a household name compared to Winn Dixie.
Who Pays More: Publix or Winn Dixie?
While it is less relevant for an average grocery shopper to look into how each store pays their employees, it is still an interesting point to make when comparing the two. I looked on Indeed to find out the average pay that each type of employee gets.
| Job Title | Publix Wage/Salary | Winn Dixie Wage/Salary |
| Cashier | $10/hour | $11.50/hour |
| Stocker | $9.50/hour | $10.00/hour |
| Assistant Manager | $47,000/year | $12/hour |
| Store Manager | $53,000/year | $36,619/year |
From the findings, it seems that for the cashier and stocker positions, Winn Dixie has a higher average wage than Publix. However, for the assistant manager and manager positions, Publix pays more.
It is important to keep in mind that the wage and salary will vary from state to state, so while these are accurate, they may be a bit different than the salaries and wages offered at your local store.