New Walmart Grocery Store in Jupiter Kicks Publix in Pricing

One of the draws to the Jupiter real estate market is the affordability when compared to big cities like New York or Chicago, or even homes for sale in Palm Beach.  Well, it’s a lot harder to afford a home when you are spending all of your disposable income on commodities like groceries.

I needed a few things in the house and decided to go to Walmart on Indiantown Road in Jupiter. I’ve always tried to avoid this particular Walmart. The parking lot was a mess; it was dated inside and didn’t have a great selection. Well, after 2 years of a major renovation, Walmart not only looks nice, but the selection and low prices make it a game changer.

First of all, there is now a huge grocery store element. I snuck a few photos in. There is aisle after aisle of refrigerated/frozen goods. On top of that, there is now a true deli. Publix in Jupiter has 6 locations; there were only 3 of them 10 years ago. There is really no competition on price. Whole Foods and Fresh Market are more specialty stores and Winn Dixie is so dated inside, no one wants to shop there.

They were just starting to stock the shelves, so I took 4 random shots and made sure nothing was a Sam’s brand choice. Then I went to Publix and took shots of those 4 items. What I found was really pretty shocking. No wonder the Palm Trees were covering up the green Publix sign. Publix is totally overpricing residents of Jupiter compared to Walmart. Look at a sample of the items below…..

Jupiter Walmart Indiantown Road            versus                  Jupiter Publix Indiantown Road

      Hillshire Farms Brown Sugar Ham (9 OZ)

Walmart $3.48                                                                              Publix    $4.69

Conclusion:  Walmart offers a 25% price break on this basic lunch meat.

Claussen Pickles (32 OZ)

Walmart: $2.98                                                                          Publix: 2/$7.29 ($3.645)

Conclusion:  Walmart offers a savings of 18%. Furthermore, you don’t have to purchase 2 jars of pickles at Publix. According to the checkout person at Publix, it’s just a “suggestion”. You can buy it at the unit price of $3.645. When I asked why they offered it, they said, “it probably fooled some people.”  This made me really appreciate Walmart’s everyday low prices.

Yoplait Greek 100 Yoghurt

Walmart: $1.00                                                                         Publix: $6.00 for 5 ($1.20)

Conclusion:  Walmart offers a 20% savings. Publix not only is 20% more, but tries to pitch you to purchase 4 extra yoghurts unnecessarily.

Jell-O Black Cherry (12.5 Oz)

Walmart: $1.98                                                                                             Publix: $2.00

Conclusion:  Not much of a difference here. Walmart is 1% less on price.

Final Analysis:  Walmart was between 18-25% less on basic commodity grocery items except Jell-O. So, unless you are Bill Cosby, it’s best to shop Walmart.

Sneak Peek of the New Jupiter Walmart Grocery Store. Tons of refrigerated items, fruits, vegetables, organic food choices, frozen foods, and a true deli counter…