I had joined the Greenwise rewards program just to see what was in the members area, and 2 days later I got a digital coupon for $5 off a > $10 purchase, which gave me a reason to come here instead of Publix. After my 3rd visit, I think I can sum up my feelings on this store.
I got here around 4:15 and the place was dead empty. I shop at Publix all hours of the afternoon and it's never empty. Ever. There were only a couple of things I wanted to buy for sure; I'd look around to see where I could use the coupon. I had to get over $10 and of course Wine didn't count. The rapini was on sale, but this is when I realized the problem with the produce here.
The area is quite small. So they only have a couple of each item. The rapini was old and on it's last day. When broccoli rabe is old, the stems start to curl; when it's really old, the leaves and florets turn yellow and the leaves get limp. You don't buy it when it's yellow; if the leaves are starting to get limp you need to cook it right away; it's shelf life is at an end. I was eating it that night, so I bought one, but I wasn't happy with it.
I also wanted to buy Beefsteak Tomatoes, but they didn't have any in this store. So that was out.
Breyer's ice cream was also 2 for 1; the only time I buy ice cream. I usually buy 1 coffee and 1 of something else. The problem here is that they have very little selection; less than 1/3 of the flavors they have in a real Publix. No Coffee. Basically if you don't want vanilla or chocolate you need to go somewhere else.
As usual, none of the meat looked very good. I figured with the coupon I could pay the $13.95/lb if they had something good, but there was nothing worth any price. Again, the selection here is smaller of each item. A couple of each cut. They also have these in the packaged section.
A nicely marbled steak. They sell these 14 oz steaks for $32, which is $36/lb. Not terrible you might say, but there's a lot of cap fat on the edges of this; I'd say there's about 10oz of edible meat; which equates to $50/lb. I've had some pretty good steaks for $10/lb lately, so I wasn't biting.
I thought about replenishing my spices; fresh spices are always better than year old stuff. But as you can see, they hardly have anything. So this neighborhood store is useless if you run out of marjoram for your salmon; they don't have anything.
I ended up buying some chicken sausage; they get an absurd $6.15 for chicken sausage. "Hot Italian" they call it. Only 120 calories per link (regular pork sausage is 260+); I'd see how it went with the rapini. It wouldn't go to waste.
So when I went to check out, I had no clue how to enter the rewards. They say to "Punch in your Phone#", but the self-checkout POS has no way to do this. Amazon has a scanner that reads a QR symbol on your phone. It turns out that you have to key in your phone number on the CC pinpad after you've scanned at least $10 worth of product. You can't do it in advance. There's no prompt or feedback telling you that it's been found. Total amateur hour in terms of implementation.
Adding insult to injury, they spelled rapini "rappini" so it didn't come up when I punched it in. Get your act together Publix.
Latest Conclusions
After 3 visits, I've come to the conclusion that you can't plan to do all of your shopping at this store. You can't count on them having what you want, even if you're not that picky. The hot food today was total junk; wings drowning in liquid. Mushy potatoes. Looked like bad cafeteria food. So I'm not coming here to eat. Even if I wanted some rapini; I'd head over to Fresh Market before coming here. At least if they're out of it at Fresh Market (or it's too old); I have my car and I can head over to Publix. Here I'm on foot so it's not that easy to go somewhere else. (I use rapini as an example because they don't have it at ALDI or Winn-Dixie or Walmart so you can't just get it anywhere).
Thoughts on 2/11/21
I went back to Greenwise on Thursday 2/11 at 4pm. I was surprised at how dead it was. I've never seen a Publix so empty; if there were more than 10 people in the store I'd be surprised. And half of them were at the bar.
I wanted to take a closer look at the hot food.
Pretty lame stuff. Like a bad cafeteria.
Something I learned is that while they have their own Greenwise flyer, they don't include all of the items that are on sale in the Publix flyer, so you have to read both of them if you care about sales before you come here.
I ended up leaving without buying anything. The Rapini was old (and too expensive; I might have paid the price if it was fresh), they didn't have the coffee that was on sale, and the second tier wine I like was $5 too much across the board.
Review 2/4/21
During a pandemic, the opening of a grocery store is the biggest thing that can happen because, after all, all we really do is shop for food now. This will be the most comprehensive grocery store review ever compiled. The first thing to know is that Greenwise is just a brand owned by Publix; this store effectively is a Publix with a different name. Prices here are the same as at nearby Publix stores, including the sales. They may not carry items on sale in the Publix weekly flyer; but if the Tillamook cheese is on sale at Publix; it's also on sale here.
It's been a long winter here in South Florida; so long that even 65 degrees feels warm. I think they have a garage somewhere, but I live nearby so I walked over.
As you enter you realize how big the place it; it's not some inner city compact supermarket; this place is huge. Publix usually doesn't have product out in front; but Whole Foods doesn't.
Elevators and checkout to the left; the clear flow is to the right.
For opening week, there are a LOT of people in the place. Expect a crowd even if 2/3 of the people are wearing blue name tags.
Overall, the produce section is much smaller than a regular publix. The prices are the same as the other Publix; you'd expect prices to be higher in a store like this, but they're not. This is because the prices at regular Publix are too high; the main reason that I do most of my shopping elsewhere.
$4.09 for Rapini; it's $2.99 at Fresh Market and $3.49 at Whole Foods.
The North side of the supermarket is effectively a food court. Up front is the hot food section similar to the buffet at Whole foods, with a much smaller selection.
I don't see myself getting soup or hot food here.
There's also a bar that serves beer and wine; and I suppose you could eat prepared food you bought. There's a few tables, but it's pretty tight. This place is more take-out than eat in. There's no cafeteria area with a lot of tables and chairs (like Fairway stores have). Just a couple of tables and the bar:
There's a Chipotle wannabe section (why does this feel like a cruise ship?); you can get a burrito or a bowl.
A few dollars more and it doesn't look as good as Chipotle.
They have some sad looking pizzas; $15 for a pepperoni pizza. Something interesting is that they have the calorie count on the menu; I'm not sure that it helps to sell a pizza to remind people that it's 3000 calories.
There an asian bowl section where you can get Ramen noodles; they had something similar at Lucky's.
A big Deli section dedicated to making sandwiches. $8-$9 for a sandwich seems like a lot for a supermarket sandwich to me.
They showcase some of the meats (ala Lucky's) and Penn Dutch, as if we have some master chefs here at Greenwise:
Personally I'm not a fan of pre-sliced meats; how long have these been sitting out?
The seafood section is pretty lame. Unlike Whole Foods, there's no premium fish here. Crab legs are more for show than eating.
Something they don't have at Publix is a premium meat counter; Publix calls their beef "Premium Choice" but they have the worst meat of all the supermarkets. Here they sell "Greenwise", USDA prime, grass-fed and "American Style Kobe". The Greenwise is never worth the price ($15.39 for strips; I consistently get better strips at Walmart for $9/lb). $18.99/lb for USDA prime isn't a bad price; Fresh Market tries to trick you by selling 12 oz steaks for $15.99, which is $21+ per lb.
They also have lower end meats in a small refrigerated section; if you want to top sirloin or a chuck roast they have it here.
They're pushing the bacon. 2 people offered me freshly cooked bacon. With 900 brands of packaged bacon available, I'm not sure why people pay twice as much for supermarket bacon.
Don't come here for your DiGiorno or Tombstone pizza; they only have the higher end brands like they have at Whole Foods.
DiGiorno is better than Freschetta so this strategy makes no sense. Is California Pizza Kitchen really a premium brand?
Of course there's the obligatory nuts and fresh peanut butter section. Half the selection of Whole Foods.
The pasta section is surprisingly inept. Not a great selection. Lots of different brands but missing some popular shapes altogether.
They have a dude manning the cheese area; another Whole Foods idea. I didn't examine the selection too closely.
And last but not least, they have lots of cold beer.
Conclusion
I thought that Greenwise was going to be a specialty-only store where you could only get stuff like Amy's Soup and Quinoa linguine, and a fancy $10 panini. But it's really a full scale supermarket. Kind of.
Greenwise takes a combination of ideas from Whole Foods Market, Fresh Market and Lucky's and tries to make it a new idea. Pseudo premium brands (Is Amy's really better than Campbell's or Progresso?), lots of prepared foods while trading off on brand selection; if you like Mueller's pasta or buy Publix house brand cheese; you won't find it here. There are no "generic" store items here.
Having a super market walking distance is a great thing; if you live downtown you really can get by without owning a car. You could have walked to Publix on Andrews before, but in the summer that's a sweaty slog. It's great that you can run out and get something if you're about to make dinner and you're missing an ingredient. The problem is that this store doesn't carry a lot of things that I buy regularly. The don't carry the pasta I buy at Publix (Flora orecchiette) or my 2nd favorite candy (a secret); and they only have cheap or very expensive meat; neither of which I'm likely to buy.
Personally I have no use for cafeteria quality prepared food; I know how to cook. But for those who work nearby or who live downtown and eat $18 take-out burgers for dinner, this will be a welcome option. Even though I live 2 blocks away, on a rainy or 90 degree day I'm more likely to get in my car and drive to ALDI or Fresh Market than come here. I don't see myself sipping wine and watching the Big Game here. The stuff I buy regularly: Rapini, Sausage, Cheese, Tomatos and Tomato Sauce, Salmon, coffee and produce; I can get at other nearby stores at a much better price. With multiple Publix, ALDI, Walmart and Winn-Dixie less than 2 miles away; if you own a car this place has limited utility. Other than "American Kobe Style" beef, there's nothing here I can't get someplace else,
That being said; Greenwise brings calling downtown Fort Lauderdale a real neighborhood close to reality. This place is going to hurt small businesses like Salad Bar and Mr Nick's; if nothing else it's another option for local workers for lunch. I don't see people living in the $2M condos nearby coming here for a beer and a turkey sandwich.
