"The shelves were lined with different products than what you'll now find at your local market, and $10 worth of groceries had a very different look - and bulk - to it. Beyond changes in products and costs, the feel of the store also wouldn't have been the same. Not, at least, until one Florida grocery store completely redefined the shopping experience with a simple addition that made everything a whole lot more pleasant: air conditioning."
"Within a few years, the owner, George Jenkins, opened a second Publix Food Store in town. But it wouldn't be until the changing of the decade that he could really follow his dreams. In 1940, Jenkins closed both of those stores and opened the very first Publix Super Market, an elegant grocery store brimming with technological marvels of the age."
"Summertime in Winter Haven is a hot and humid affair, with average highs in the 90s, so it is a logical place for the first air-conditioned grocery store to pop up. Considering that home air conditioning didn't really take off until the 1950s, it makes even more sense. Many movie theaters were air conditioned starting in the 1920s, and this was a huge driver for business on hot days."
Publix began as a small food store in Winter Haven, Florida, and expanded under owner George Jenkins. In 1940 Jenkins closed earlier stores to open the first Publix Super Market, featuring cutting-edge conveniences for the time. Winter Haven's hot, humid summers made air conditioning especially valuable for shoppers and for protecting perishable goods and refrigeration equipment. Early adoption of air conditioning in public venues had already driven customer traffic elsewhere, and climate control in grocery retail offered both comfort and operational advantages that reshaped how people experienced supermarket shopping.
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