Dive Brief:

• Publix expects capital spending to total approximately $2.5 billion in 2024, according to the company’s recent 10-K filing — a 25% increase over the $2 billion it spent last year. 
• The grocer reported $57.1 billion in sales during fiscal 2023, a 4.7% increase over 2022, which had one fewer week in its calendar year. Comparable store sales for 2023 increased 4.2%.
• Publix’s net earnings of $4.3 billion for fiscal 2023 marked a 49% increase from 2022, reversing the year-over-year plummet of 33.9% between 2021 and 2022.

Dive Insight:

At $2 billion, Publix’s capital spending for 2023 came in under the estimated $2.3 billion the grocer initially thought it would spend. 

That budget supported the opening of 45 supermarkets, of which 13 replaced existing ones, and 120 store remodels, the grocery chain noted in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Publix’s 2023 capital spending was higher than the $1.8 billion it spent in 2022 that included 40 store openings and 117 remodels. 

Publix’s capital budget for 2024 supports store openings, store remodels, construction on warehouses, improvements to its technology and acquisition or development of company-operated shopping centers. 

Publix’s growing capital budget follows recent efforts by the Florida-based chain to spruce up its stores and roll out a new store prototype. Last summer, the chain unveiled plans to spend tens of millions of dollars on a tech campus in Lakeland, Florida.  

At the end of January Publix opened a store in Wesley Chapel, Florida, marking the chain’s third location under the new prototype. The nearly 56,000-square-foot location is notably larger than Publix’s usual store size of 45,000 to 50,000 square feet. 

Publix opened the first location with the new store prototype in early 2023 in Tampa, Florida, followed by one in Louisville, Kentucky.

Last year, Publix said it would transition the locations under its small-format GreenWise Market banner to its traditional supermarket brand and shift some GreenWise elements, like its Publix Pours in-store bar, into its new store prototype.

Publix has 1,366 stores across Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky and has been expanding further north into states like Virginia and Kentucky. 

The company has 10 primary distribution centers with seven in Florida and one each in Georgia, North Carolina and Alabama. It also runs three dairy plants, two bakery plants, a deli plant and two prepared foods facilities. 

In Q4, Publix’s net earnings totaled $1.2 billion, a nearly 8% decrease compared to the same period last year, while sales totaled $14.7 billion for the 14-week quarter, down 4% year-over-year. 

Publix’s stock price increased from $13.19 per share to $14.55 per share, effective March 1. Publix stock is not publicly traded and is available only to current Publix associates and members of its board of directors