Dear Publix, I Love You.

"Publix.  Where shopping is a pleasure."  -Publix Motto

I love Publix.  I really do.  When I first moved to Nashville, it was very disappointing that no Publix existed within a reasonable distance to school.  Where did people buy groceries?  Do other grocery stores even exist?  If you're from Florida like I am, you're at a loss to answer those questions.  I quickly heard about other stores...

Kroger.  I visited.  I never wanted to go back.  Blech.  Did people actually buy food from that place?

Harris Teeter.  Okay... but seriously overpriced for the quality.

Trader Joe's.  Trendy.  Cool.  Good food.  But sometimes I don't want to be trendy and cool.  (Yes, I know I live in Nashville which is the trendy/cool/hipster capital of the South, but I don't think I'll ever fully fit in.  I grew up much too preppy in Catholic school to forsake my strange Northern/Southern SoFla roots.)

Alas.  What was a Florida girl to do?  Nashville was almost perfect.  It just didn't have a Publix.  At least for the first three years of schooling I had a meal plan that could have fed me and two other people... Probably why I had to buy new pants almost every year.  I blame brunch.  All you can eat on Saturday AND Sunday?  My waistline doesn't thank you, Vandy.  I digress.

Then... it happened.  I was in someone's car coming from somewhere after doing something.  We were driving down West End.  I saw it.  A sign from Heaven that Nashville could be home forever.  The sign said "Publix Coming Soon."  I almost died.  I forget who was in the car with me, but whoever it was got a whole lot of excited shouts and exclamations of "OH MY GOSH, PUBLIX IS THE BEST GROCERY STORE IN THE WORLD.  NO, REALLY.  YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND."

Publix opened.  Now I make a weekly trip to the second happiest place on earth (After Disney World - Florida is full of good things).

Free coffee while you shop, free wipes to clean off the shopping carts before use, meals being cooked right in front of you with all the ingredients necessary to make the dish at the ready, fresh produce, a delightful bakery, and the friendliest employees you'll ever meet.  One time I asked for a recommendation about guacamole.  The man handed a package to me, and I put it in my cart.  I ran into the same man nearly 20 minutes later on the other side of the store.  He was holding a different guacamole package, and had been looking for me because he'd realized he'd handed the wrong one to me!  Now that's a job well done!  (Especially since good guac is no laughing matter.)

All in all, Publix is great.  You should shop there.  It's pretty and shiny and full of deliciousness.

**Please note that this is not an official endorsement, and Publix did not pay me to say any of these things.  I just really love the store.  Go find another Floridian.  I bet they back me up.

Also note that Nashville will be even more forever-liveable shortly.  Nordstrom opens at Green Hills this fall.  What?!  I just died again.  (Nordstrom didn't pay me either.)

"When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping.  Men invade another country.  It's a whole different way of thinking."  -Elayne Boosler