Some people are so obsessed with Publix they liken the supermarket to the most magical place on Earth.
"The first time I went I called my husband, and I said, 'It's like Disney World,'" says Christa Duncan of Morris. "There's always someone in almost every aisle. It's just that kind of like magical feeling--like that there's somebody there, and they want to help you."
Duncan, 38, has been a loyal Publix customer for more than four years, driving half an hour just to get to the closest store.
"My whole life works around if I can get a Publix trip in so I don't have to make a drive across town," she says. "Last week my family went to the movies in Vestavia, so I immediately think, 'There's a Publix, so I can get a grocery trip in.'"
But all that will change Dec. 13 when Publix opens its first store in north Jefferson County at the renovated Magnolia City Place shopping center in Gardendale.
"It's completely game-changing," Duncan says. "I can't even begin to describe how happy I am. It's like Christmas coming early."
She's not the only area resident who's Publix-obsessed and ready to wake up early Saturday morning for the grand opening.
Patrice Brooks' loyalty to Publix dates back to her childhood growing up in Florida, where the store was founded.
"The only problem when I moved to Alabama was there was no Publix," says Brooks, 56, of Gardendale. "My husband tells a funny story that whenever we went to Florida he always dropped me off to get the groceries and I would get lost and he would just have to come in.
"He would say, 'It's like you're in Disney World.'"
'Everybody needs to eat'
UAB marketing professor Bob Robicheaux tells AL.com that among all types of retailers, supermarkets build and maintain some of the highest rates of customer loyalty.
"Grocery stores are extremely important to most households but especially so to families with busy adults and children," Robicheaux says. "Everybody needs to eat and most of what we eat is purchased in supermarkets."
He says supermarkets tend to locate and operate their stores with a "precisely targeted marketing program," and the best markets stock their stores to offer what the local customers want.
The former Bruno's, a Birmingham-based grocer, succeeded at targeting local customers. At one point, more than 50 percent of all groceries purchased in the Birmingham metro market were purchased from a Bruno's store, Robicheaux says.
"Bruno's located different types of stores in communities to more closely offer what the locals wanted most," he ssays. "My household was for decades very loyal Bruno's Supermarkets customers. We drove out of our way to go to a particular Bruno's store. Then, when Bruno's was sold in the 1990s, the new owners dramatically changed the store layout and the quality of checkout service in our favorite store.
"It didn't take long for us to shift our loyalty to another supermarket that was more conveniently located to our neighborhood."
Publix entered the Alabama market around the time Bruno's and Delchamps, another Alabama-based supermarket chain, were leaving the area.
The first Publix store in Alabama opened in 1996 near Huntsville. The chain grew its Alabama market and opened its first store near Birmingham in 2002 in Pelham.
Now, there are 19 Publix stores in the Birmingham area -- Gardendale's new store being the 20th -- and 57 total in Alabama. There are also plans for Publix to expand to downtown Birmingham, as well as Cullman and Rainbow City.
"With the absence of Bruno's and Delchamps, Publix followed with a marketing strategy that was an antithesis to the supercenter strategy," Robicheaux says. "Publix emphasizes service--to the extreme. If a Publix employee senses that a customer needs assistance, their corporate culture requires that they provide outstanding service immediately.
"Publix has earned many customers' loyalty by offering what cannot be found in a supercenter."
'They don't just take your money'
Founder George W. Jenkins established Publix with a focus on customer value and treating "customers like royalty."
"They go above and beyond," says Brooks, who also worked for Publix for several years.
Birmingham resident Debbie Alderman, 23, says her favorite thing about Publix is its customer service.
"The people there don't just treat you like somebody going through the line or just another number," she says. "They don't just take your money. They offer to take your bags out to the car for you. Managers and associates who walk by you make eye contact. They'll ask you how you're doing. It's just a really friendly place."
'Even the uniforms people were wearing were tidy'
Customers also choose stores based on location convenience, quality and assortment of merchandise, prices, atmospheres, and other factors, according to Robicheaux.
"Once they identify the establishment or establishments they prefer, they return again and again throughout the year," he says.
Brooks says she prefers Publix because it's always clean and well-stocked. Alderman agrees, saying that was one of the first things she noticed after moving to Alabama.
"The first one that I started going to regularly was the one off of Doug Baker Blvd.," she says. "It was exceptionally clean, and I noticed that even the uniforms people were wearing were tidy."
More bang for your buck
With an array of weekly coupons, buy-one-get-one-free sales, mystery "penny item" promotions and other discounts, Publix shoppers insist they save money at the store.
"You got to get to know their system," Duncan says. "If you just walk in cold then you probably would spend more."
Aside from its own discounts and in-store promotions, Publix also accepts manufacturer's and competitor's coupons.
Brooks says her daughters even make a game out of saving money at Publix.
"They race each week to see who is going to get the best coupons," she says. "They cut coupons and then see who saved the most money."
Celebrity supermarkets
Publix isn't the only grocery store that has a cult following.
For every Buzzfeed article about why Publix is the best supermarket brand, there's another about "Why Wegmans is the greatest supermarket the world will ever know" or "23 Reasons Trader Joe's is the best grocery store that ever was." In the Northeast, the family-owned Wegmans supermarket is so cherished that a group of high school drama students wrote and performed a musical based on the supermarket simply called "Wegmans...The Musical!"
Several dreams came true this year when Trader Joe's announced it would soon open a store in Birmingham a year after AL.com readers voted the supermarket chain the retailer they most wanted in Alabama.
Other Birmingham stores like the 24-hour Western Supermarket on Highland Avenue -- known affectionately as the "Weird Western" -- and V. Richards on Clairmont Avenue still maintain loyal fans.
When the Piggly Wiggly in Mountain Brook announced it was closing, shoppers rallied to "Save the Crestline Pig," showing their support by wearing pig hats. The group is now hoping the store will return.
Rank your favorite grocery stores in Birmingham at the end of this story.
Worth the wait?
Financial and legal snags delayed the Gardendale Publix project for years after the chain first announced plans for the store in 2008.
When Aldi broke ground on a grocery store in neighboring Fultondale, Mayor Jim Lowery joked about Gardendale's "Publix Coming Soon" sign that has taunted residents for years with a sign of his own that read, "Coming Sooner!"
Last year, the Publix project finally moved forward when Preferred Growth Properties, a subsidiary of Books-A-Million, Inc., bought the shopping center and started developing it with Publix as its anchor.
Now that the proposal has finally become a reality, it seems the community has never been more ready for Saturday's grand opening.
"It's been hanging over our heads for so long," Duncan says. "I wish I could put into words how happy I am. If you've always had one, then you don't understand."
What's your favorite store? Rank your top three grocers from this list of supermarkets in Birmingham, which includes the future Trader Joe's.