George W. Jenkins*

George Jenkins was born in 1907 in Warm Springs, Georgia, where his family owned a general store. When his father moved the business to Atlanta, Jenkins stayed behind to finish high school.

In 1925, at the end of his freshman year at Georgia Tech, Jenkins set off for a vacation in Florida. There, he met the owner of 14 Piggly Wiggly grocery stores. Because of his experience in his family's store, Jenkins was offered a job. Starting as a clerk, he found a number of ways to impress the boss and was soon made store manager. He had expected to go back to college, but after this quick success, he decided to stay another year. That decision led to his ownership of 290 supermarkets, with more than 37,000 employees and with sales of more than $3 billion.

When Jenkins began managing his first Piggly Wiggly in St. Petersburg, its gross sales were $1,300 a week. Eight months later, they were $6,000. Single and ambitious, Jenkins spent time keeping his store cleaner and better stocked than that of his competition. He was reassigned to Piggly Wiggly's largest store, which was located in Winter Haven. He continued there for four years, until the chain was sold. He then made another decision. With $2,500, raised by forming Publix Food Stores, Inc. and by selling stock to supplement his own savings of $1,300, he opened the first Publix store next door to the Piggly Wiggly he had managed in Winter Haven.

Jenkins did not invent the supermarket, but he did take the ragged edges off the raw concept. In 1940, he put together $70,000 of financing for what his bankers called "George's marble, glass, and stucco food palace." When the first Publix supermarket opened, it had fluorescent lights, air conditioning, custom refrigeration cases, wide aisles, and an electric-eye door. Waiting until the end of the World War II to build more stores, Jenkins opened five stores on the same day in 1945.