PUBLIX TO OPEN FREE STANDING SUB SHOPS?

A very interesting April Fool’s Day joke was played on the public by a blog web site called the305.com. These guys put out a press release that said that Publix was going into the sub business with free standing stores allowing them to go head to head with Subway. This announcement was done on social media and then you saw the power of the internet take over. The news just blew up, and people were talking about it everywhere and on every kind of medium. Eventually Publix caught wind of it and dashed the hopes of excited customers. While this seems like a silly prank, I think it is very interesting. This story was picked up by almost every major news outlet, the newspapers, news web sites, etc. For no money, these clever bloggers got an amazing amount of attention. Some could and do probably spend thousands of dollars in advertising and cannot achieve half the publicity they got here. My first thought was why didn’t I think of something like this?? If I did or anyone else did it would instantly put your company, cause, etc. on the map. There is also something else interesting here from a real estate perspective. Publix is the dominant grocer in the Southeast and developers are constantly pursuing them to take new sites. In the past they were happy to coexist with many types of tenants, including dollar stores, gyms, and sub shops among other uses. As they grew and other rivals crumbled, they began to take a more aggressive approach to competitors of all shapes and sizes. Today when Publix does a new lease they prohibit dollar stores, gyms and yes, sub shops. This makes it very difficult for the shopping center owner to lease the rest of the center, which he does at much higher rental rates than what Publix pays. The owner makes all their money on these smaller deals. So Publix wins and everyone else loses. That doesn’t really seem fair now does it? But that is how the big dogs roll in retail, probably taking their cue from Wal-Mart who really takes no prisoners. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.