Publix is taking over here in north east FL too.
In NC we shopped mostly at Harris Teeter. When we moved to Ga and started shopping at Publix, our grocery bill was slashed by at least a third. Publix has bogos weekly - the items we use. Publix has THE best bread out of all of the chains in their bakeries. We do not buy our seafood from there- they definitely need to work on that dept. (I refuse to pay $9.99 for ONE small, tired looking tuna steak.)
Not sure what will happen when the dust settles but it should be interesting. I just hope they keep the good things about all the chains.