Is open carry over at Florida Publix stores? - Stephanie Hayes

Clear out the news cobwebs and travel back to the old days — I mean, seven or eight months ago.

That’s when Florida began allowing people to openly carry firearms in most places except courthouses, schools and so on, thanks to an appeals court ruling. Private businesses retained the right to ask customers not to stroll around visibly armed. Many did just that, including chains like Winn-Dixie and Walmart.

Publix, with 900-some stores in Florida, became the pew-pew outlier. Open carry was allowed in stores, a spokesperson confirmed when word got out to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Some shoppers were skeeved out by the idea of pistols on display near the cold cuts. Others said they’d feel safer seeing a responsible gun owner packing.

However, it seems the days of open carry at Publix could be over. A reader wrote to me saying they’d heard the guidance had quietly shifted. There had been no announcement, and as of this writing, there’s no policy about guns on the website.

https://www.tampabay.com/viewpoints/2026/05/05/publix-open-carry-policy-florida-guns-firearms/


Also stumbled across this:

Publix suffers rare earnings decline
Publix Super Markets posted a rare earnings decline for its fiscal first quarter, citing sales pressure from the new Medicare drug pricing program.

The Lakeland, Fla.-based retailer posted net income of $794 million for the three months through March 28, a 21.5% decline from $1 billion in the year-ago first quarter. Most of the decline was due to the impact of unrealized losses on equity securities, the company said. However, excluding those losses, net income still would have been down 3% in the first quarter of 2026, to about $1.1 billion, vs. $1.2 billion in Q1 2025.

Sales for the first quarter of 2026 totaled $16.1 billion, a 2% increase over year-ago levels, which the company attributed primarily to new-store openings, partially offset by a decrease in prescription drug sales. Comparable-store sales were unchanged vs. year-ago levels.

The new Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, which limits the amount that pharmacies can be reimbursed for 10 prescription drugs as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, took effect on Jan. 1 and was a drag on Publix’s sales in the quarter, the company said.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/finance/publix-suffers-rare-earnings-decline?utm_source=social&utm_medium=rss&utm_id=sn