11 Things Publix Does Better Than Trader Joe's

These days, Trader Joe's is where I do most of my grocery shopping. Not only are the prices competitive, but I also have a TJ's super close to my apartment, so it's become my go-to spot for last-minute grocery shopping. But when I lived in the South, Publix was often my grocery store of choice. Admittedly, Publix isn't my favorite grocery store — it has a weird, sterile vibe that makes me feel cold and uncomfortable, unlike the bustling, handwritten warmth of a neighborhood Trader Joe's. At the same time, though, there's actually a lot that Publix does better than Trader Joe's, especially if you prefer to shop at a place that's known for actual ingredients instead of ready-made frozen meals.

I'm taking a closer look at where Publix excels — and where Trader Joe's falls short. Whether you're a dedicated Publix fan or you just shop there every once in a while, these benefits might just inspire a trip to the store. Will you spend more than you would at Trader Joe's? Depending on what you buy, quite possibly. But at the same time, you might also get your hands on some better products and get better customer service while you're there. These are the things that Publix does better than Trader Joe's.

First of all, let's state the obvious: Trader Joe's sells barely any name-brand products at all. You might find a random name-brand drink or protein bar at TJ's, but for the most part, if you shop there, you're going to have to settle for Trader Joe's store brand. That's not necessarily a bad thing, considering that the quality of products you'll find at Trader Joe's is generally pretty high (in my opinion, at least). But this can be a bummer if you're craving a specific product, or you're following a recipe that calls for a branded ingredient.

At Publix, on the other hand, you'll find a wealth of name-brand products, from pantry staples like pasta and canned beans to frozen prepared meals and milk. This is where you'll find your favorite ketchup and mayo brands and stock up on your favorite name-brand candies. At the same time, though, Publix's store-brand offerings are still pretty solid, so you're not giving up anything on that front. When you're looking for a constantly evolving selection of store-brand products, Trader Joe's is the place to be. But when you're on the hunt for specific name-brand products? Publix wins over TJ's every time.

If there's one thing that annoys me to no end about Trader Joe's, it's the fact that the store seems to want to wrap everything in plastic, including the produce. There's no need for tomatoes to come in a plastic bag. Not only is it incredibly wasteful to wrap everything in plastic, but it also prevents you from selecting the specific items you want.

For example, when I pick out avocados, I try to look for ones that are at various stages of the ripening process. I select one that's already pretty soft so I can eat it the next day alongside ones that are still hard and unripe, so they'll be ready later. But since Trader Joe's sells a lot of its produce all lumped together and wrapped in plastic, I can't be as selective as I want to be. Yes, Trader Joe's announced a few years ago that it would cut back on its plastic use, but I still see a ton of plastic in the produce section.

At Publix, though, you won't run into the same problem. I've found that a lot of its produce is sold individually, so you can select exactly what you want without worrying about contributing to a ton of extra plastic waste. So, whether you want more control over the fruits and veggies you buy or you're just interested in cutting down on your plastic consumption as much as possible, Publix might be a better place to shop.

Trader Joe's offers a fair share of prepared foods, and some options are actually quite good. I especially enjoy some of its sandwiches, wraps, and even pasta salads. But when it comes to prepared food, Trader Joe's really can't hold a candle to Publix. Perhaps Publix is best known for is its famous Pub Subs. Head to the store's deli, and you can get a made-to-order sandwich that comes encased in high-quality bread featuring all your favorite meats, cheeses, and toppings. This is why you'll often find a line snaking out of the deli section at your local Publix, especially during lunch time.

But Publix delivers on its prepared foods beyond the iconic Pub sub. The chain also has excellent fried chicken, whether you're a bone-in kind of person or you prefer white meat tenders. At the same time, you can pick up a variety of prepared sides, from potato and pasta salads to stunning snack platters. You can also snag some sushi from Publix — sushi that's surprisingly tasty by grocery store standards. Sure, Trader Joe's might dominate in the frozen food section, but when it comes to fresh, prepared foods, Publix is the place to shop.

You've found a new recipe you want to try, and you head to your local Trader Joe's to pick up the ingredients. The problem? They don't have some of the most basic items you need, like Worcestershire sauce, active dry yeast, or chili peppers. These are all items that you can probably find at most local grocery stores, but because of Trader Joe's limited selection, you're not going to find them there. This is one of Trader Joe's main drawbacks as a brand, which is why many people don't prefer to use the store as their main grocery shopping hub.

Luckily, though, you're not likely to encounter the same problem at Publix. This grocery store generally carries most of these sort-of-common but also sort-of-niche products in its lineup, so you won't have to make a separate trip just to be able to make that specific dish you're craving. That being said, you may not be able to find absolutely everything at Publix. I've found its selection of Asian products, like fish sauce and soy sauce, to be somewhat lacking compared to other mainstream American grocery stores.

Publix and Trader Joe's are two grocery stores on completely different scales. Trader Joe's seems like a place that's all about efficiency — the brand is centered around its relatively limited selection of items. Publix, on the other hand, is more like a classic grocery store, with different departments offering specialized services. For example, when you walk into your local Publix, you're going to see separate areas for an in-house bakery, deli, and separate seafood section, which allows the store to offer a more comprehensive, full-service shopping experience that is somewhat more personalized. 

Want your deli meat sliced as thinly as possible? Just ask the employee who's working at the deli counter, and they'll be happy to help you. Need to order a customized cake from the bakery? Publix can handle that as well. And if you visit the seafood counter, you can order scallops by weight or get your fresh fish descaled right there while you wait.

Trader Joe's doesn't offer these services. Sure, you can still pick up deli meat and fish, but they're pre-cut, and you can't request anything other than what's already packaged and on the shelf. And while it's true that Trader Joe's sells mini sheet cakes, this is not the kind of grocery store where you can order a personalized birthday cake.

One thing I appreciate about both Publix and Trader Joe's is that both stores actually hire cashiers instead of letting customers do all the work of checking out themselves. Although there's certainly a time and a place for self-checkout, it's nice to at least have the option to check out with an actual cashier. But when it comes to bagging, Publix undoubtedly has an edge on Trader Joe's. This is because Publix not only hires cashiers but also employs baggers. These employees stand at the end of the checkout station, expertly packing all your groceries into bags that are easy to grab when you leave the store. As a customer, you don't have to do very much at all — just wait for your items to be scanned before paying.

At Trader Joe's, the bagging process isn't so simple. If you don't want to do it yourself, the cashier has to ring up your item and bag your stuff at the same time, which slows down the process considerably. I generally just end up bagging my groceries myself at Trader Joe's, which isn't a big deal to me. Arguably, it does provide less of a high-end grocery shopping experience.

Most of us don't exactly think of grocery shopping as a luxury experience, but Publix seems to do its best to make it feel like one. Not only do you have someone helping you bag your groceries at this popular chain, but a lot of the time, they'll even offer carryout service. This means that a bagger will help you get the groceries to your car and pack them into the trunk. This is meant to be a free service — the store requests that customers don't tip the employees helping them (although this is a request that I tend to ignore if I take advantage of this service).

If you're shopping alone and only have a few bags to take to your car, the carryout service may not be particularly appealing. But for older customers or those who are trying to juggle small children along with their groceries, this service can be incredibly helpful. Although I've found staff members at most Trader Joe's to be exceptionally helpful and attentive, you're not going to get this same service. If you're someone who already struggles to get to the store for whatever reason, this extra bit of help might make the extra cost of shopping at Publix worth it.

Shopping at Trader Joe's after work on a weekday or on a Sunday afternoon, when seemingly everyone in town is trying to stock up on groceries, can frankly be a nightmare. Trader Joe's has a smaller store footprint than many other large grocery chains, which can make navigating the store unexpectedly tricky. You'll have to snake your way through customers taking their sweet time in the frozen section, then potentially wait in line for a long time before you can actually check out. This is why shopping at a crowded Trader Joe's can be a downright humbling experience.

However, I've never experienced similar customer traffic at Publix. That doesn't mean that Publix doesn't get busy — if you go on a summer holiday or right before a snowstorm is scheduled in the South (if you know, you know), there are still likely to be a lot of people shopping there. But because Publix stores are so much bigger, the crowds aren't quite as difficult to navigate around as they are at Trader Joe's.

It's true that Trader Joe's has some delicious bread, especially for a grocery store that doesn't actually make its bread in-house. Whether you're looking for sliced varieties or whole loaves with creative add-ins, you can find them at the popular grocery chain. However, despite this relatively large selection of different bread varieties, you're still going to get much better bread at Publix. Growing up, my mom would regularly make sandwiches with Publix's White Mountain Bread, which just happens to be the best-ranked bread in our lineup of Publix bakery breads. It looks like an average loaf of white bread, but it boasts a soft texture and surprisingly bold flavor that can elevate just about any sandwich.

The grocery store also carries excellent baguettes, challah, and even sub rolls (and if you ask me, the Italian five grain sub rolls are the absolute best bread for your Pub Sub). Essentially, while you can technically get your bread fix at Trader Joe's too, you're likely to find higher-quality loaves at your local Publix. And the best part? You can be more certain that they're actually made fresh, as Publix makes its bread from scratch.

Now, let me preface this by saying that I haven't had any negative experience regarding the cleanliness of Trader Joe's. I've never seen any of its locations looking particularly dirty or unkempt. Are they a bit messy and crowded sometimes? Sure. But perhaps that's to be expected at such small stores where employees are constantly stocking new items. However, this slightly messy situation can sometimes make shopping at Trader Joe's feel a bit more chaotic.

On the other hand, in my experience, Publix is seemingly always sparkling clean, neat, and well-organized. In fact, I've written before about how sterile Publix sometimes looks — it's one of the things I find mildly annoying about shopping at Publix. While I do think that Trader Joe's feels more welcoming and more, well, human, there are times when I appreciate just how pristine Publix feels. If you're a stickler for a grocery store that looks as neat and clean as can be, then Publix is probably going to offer you a nicer shopping experience overall.

As someone who grew up in the South, I have a fondness for those Southern delicacies that you can't find outside the region. One of them is sweet tea. Order a sweet tea anywhere outside of the Southeast, and you'll get an abomination-like iced tea with far too little sugar added, sometimes with sandy and grainy particles collected at the bottom of your cup. So, it should come as no surprise that Trader Joe's, a company of German origin, just isn't going to pull off sweet tea like Publix, which hails from Florida (but whose founder is from Georgia).

Technically, Trader Joe's carries a sweet tea option, but it can't compete with Publix's iconic Sweetened Iced Tea. The Trader Joe's version isn't sweet enough, and it has a strange aftertaste that ultimately makes it pretty unappealing. By contrast, the Publix version is super sweet — as a good Southern-style sweet tea should be — with a mild, mellow tea flavor that can compete with even the best homemade versions. For those unaccustomed to the sweet tea of the South, TJ's take on the drink may be just fine. But those with enough experience with real Southern sweet tea are probably more likely to appreciate Publix's offer way more.