Florida’s Largest Grocery Store Chain Open to Open Carry Customers

The grocery store chain Publix has about 900 locations across the state of Florida, and it appears that all of them are now welcoming customers who are openly carrying firearms. 

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that while corporate officials have been mum on the chain’s policy, multiple employees at stores in south and central Florida have confirmed that open carry is now allowed after a state appellate court ruled the state’s ban violated the Second Amendment. 

Several other chains, however, are still prohibiting the practice.

Winn-Dixie, Walmart and Sam’s Club say they plan to continue to prohibit open carry in Florida stores despite the recent ruling.

“Our priority is creating a safe and welcoming shopping experience for all customers and associates,” according to the parent company of Winn-Dixie, Southeastern Grocers. “As a private business, our policy remains unchanged: We do not permit open carry of firearms inside our stores. We respectfully ask customers to secure firearms safely before entering, and we appreciate the continued cooperation that helps us maintain an environment where everyone feels comfortable.”

Walmart, a chain that also sells groceries and produce, doesn’t allow open carry either.

“Driven by our commitment to maintaining a safe environment in our stores and clubs, we ask that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms into Walmart or Sam’s Club locations, except where permitted for authorized law enforcement officers,” a company spokesman said Tuesday.

The Sun Sentinel also sent requests for comment to Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Aldi and Target. As of Wednesday, they had not yet replied with a statement about their policies.

I know that Target has a policy similar to Walmart’s “request” not to openly carry, though Target’s policy applies to concealed carry as well. The latest information I could find about Whole Foods is from 2016, but at least back then the chain had a “no guns allowed” policy in place. That same year Trader Joe’s also announced that, while following state law, the chain was requesting gun owners not to openly carry, though that announcement was taken offline at some point since then. 

In 2019 Aldi also asked customers “to refrain from openly displaying firearms”, and I haven’t seen any indication that the chain has changed its position since then.  

I’m glad to see that Publix is apparently allowing both forms of carry now that Florida’s law no longer prohibits openly carried firearms, but I do hope that we’ll get an official statement from corporate officials just to confirm that’s the case. It could be, though, that the company’s management doesn’t want to publicize that fact for fear of alienating some customers. 

Sheila Alu, a former Sunrise commissioner, says she is a supporter of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, but plans to avoid any grocery store that allows customers to open carry.

“Open carry in a grocery store or in a mall will frighten people,” Alu told the Sun Sentinel. “(Publix) is not an establishment that I or my family will be patronizing.”

Ana Campos, a private investigator who lives in Fort Lauderdale, has a different take.

Seeing someone carry a firearm into Publix might shock the average shopper, Campos said. But she says she’d feel safer seeing someone with a gun.

“That’s assuming the person is a responsible gun owner,” she said. “And if there’s a problem, they will be there (to respond) before the police show up.”

Which, of course, is also the case with folks who are carrying concealed. 

Florida’s ban on openly carried firearms was a legal outlier from both a historic and current standpoint. The vast majority of states have always allowed open carry, and in many states no permit is required. It’s a non-issue in these states and it will be a non-issue in Florida as well. I occasionally see someone openly carrying where I live in rural Virginia, but it’s pretty uncommon. I’ve never seen anyone, however, who was visibly upset, alarmed, or frightened by those gun owners either, contrary to Alu’s assertion. 

If Alu doesn’t want to shop at Publix because they allow open carry, that’s her decision to make… and that just means more chicken tender subs for the rest of us. I have a feeling, though, that Publix isn’t going to suffer any noticeable loss in customers because of their policy. And if Alu is consistent in her position, she’s going find herself avoiding a lot of businesses in the Sunshine State, not just the state’s largest grocery store chain. 

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