from staff
The new Publix in Neptune Beach is starting to take shape. Behind a couple of huge piles of sand, the 54,000- square-foot building is looking more like a grocery store every day.
According to area Publix spokesman Dwaine Stevens, the Lakeland-based chain’s newest store will open in early fall and replace the 39,000-square-foot store that’s just west in Atlantic Beach along Atlantic Boulevard.
The new store is on property that once contained a Big Lots, a credit union, an indoor flea market and a salon. It’s also the location that Walmart sought for several years until public sentiment forced Walmart to pull out of the agreement.
Stevens said Publix does not own the land and is leasing it from the property owner.
The new store will have an expanded floral department, pharmacy and ethnic-foods department. Those working at the Atlantic Beach store will keep their jobs.
“The present associates will move to the new location,” said Stevens. “New hires have not been determined.”