It’s not the usual suspects, so the question is which grocery store might be interested in opening a large supermarket with an adjacent liquor store in the Atlantic North shopping center in East Arlington.
Publix and Winn-Dixie say it’s not either of them.
And few, if any, other grocery chains with liquor stores are in the size range of the one looking at the shopping center – a 59,000-square-foot supermarket with an adjacent 3,200-square-foot liquor store.
City utility JEA issued a service availability letter June 13 detailing the water, sewer and electric connections for an inline grocer and an adjacent liquor store at the property at northwest Atlantic and Kernan boulevards.
The site is between Academy Sports + Outdoors and LA Fitness.
It is not the smaller Earth Fare that closed on the other side of Academy. That retail space is now leased to a furniture store.
A service request means a project is being explored and not that there is a done deal.
Not Publix or Winn-Dixie
It’s not Publix Super Markets Inc., the Lakeland-based grocer that is adding locations around the state and area and fits the size. It also has liquor stores.
“This is not a location for us,” said spokeswoman Hannah Herring, Publix media relations manager, June 17.
It’s not Winn-Dixie, a Southeastern Grocers banner that has been closing stores that were sold to Aldi. An Atlantic North location would reestablish service to the East Arlington/West Beaches area.
Winn-Dixie does hint at other development, however.
“While we currently do not have plans for a new store at the Atlantic North location, we have renewed momentum to build new stores and reinvest in our existing store fleet. We will be sure to share more as our efforts evolve and we advance in our transformation,” said Meredith Hurley, senior director of communications and community for Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers, on June 16.
Other chains with liquor stores are larger, such as Walmart Supercenter, which is a discount department store that has a grocery department. A grocery store is specified on the preliminary JEA site plan.
Plus, a Walmart Supercenter operates across Atlantic Boulevard from Atlantic North.
Landlord Sleiman Enterprises President Toney Sleiman has not responded to texts or an email. The company’s site brochure for the property shows a “future build area” in the inline space with no identified tenant.
Atlantic North, at 11901 Atlantic Blvd., is anchored by Belk, Academy and LA Fitness.
There is vacant land between Belk and the former Earth Fare, and between Academy and LA Fitness.
Those spaces can be filled with inline tenants who would lease newly built storefronts.
Atlantic North also has outparcels that include Chick-fil-A, Panda Express, Chase Bank and other businesses.
To the west, Atlantic North includes Cinemark, RaceTrac and Whataburger.
Other firms associated with the project also declined comment or did not respond.
Dominion Engineering Group Inc. of Jacksonville is the applicant for the JEA review. The contact did not respond to a call or email. The application was submitted June 9.
The site plan says the project plan is for Bondurant Associates.
Bondurant Associates, Engineering & Architecture of Portsmouth, Virginia, provides services for architecture, structural engineering and site development planning and permitting.
The lead architect said he could not comment about the project.
Harris Teeter comes to mind
A look at the JEA application raises the question whether Harris Teeter might fit the description for the Atlantic North project.
Bondurant says on its website that its private sector clients include Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Kash ‘n Karry, Kroger, Winn-Dixie, Ingles, Goodmark Foods and BI-LO.
Of those, other than Winn-Dixie, the only banners with names operating in Northeast Florida are Harris Teeter, with one Florida store in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, and Kroger, which owns Harris Teeter and has established a delivery network in the state, including Northeast Florida.
The Amelia Island Harris Teeter is 55,000 square feet.
Harris Teeter has been known in the market for more than 20 years, although it closed a store in Mandarin in 2004 and in Ponte Vedra Beach in 2006.
Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co. bought North Carolina-based Harris Teeter Supermarkets in January 2014.
While Northeast Florida shoppers don’t see any Kroger stores, they can watch Kroger delivery trucks taking orders to residents around the area.
Kroger launched Kroger Logistics in 2021 with a hub in Groveland in Central Florida and spoke locations, including in North Jacksonville. It has not opened any Kroger-branded stores.
Kroger’s chairman and CEO said in June 2021 that the hub-and-spoke model allowed Kroger to extend the range of its customer fulfillment centers by allowing the grocer to serve more customers directly to their door.
Kroger has not responded to emails and calls for comment about whether it is interested in Atlantic North for a grocery store.
When asked about its interest, Harris Teeter did not rule out a store there.
“We only speak to locations where we are currently operating a store or have executed a lease for a future site,” a Harris Teeter spokesperson said June 25.
Harris Teeter adding stores
Harris Teeter, based in Matthews, North Carolina, says it operates more than 250 stores and 70 fuel centers in seven states - North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida - and the District of Columbia.
It has been adding stores in the size range of the Atlantic North project.
For example, Harris Teeter opened a Beaufort, South Carolina, store June 25, 2024.
The IslandPacket.com news site reported in July 2023 that the 59,306-square-foot store was under construction at 163 Sea Island Parkway. Harris Teeter also was planning to add a 1,476-square-foot convenience store/fuel station at the same location.
The store includes store-made pizza, subs, sushi, and an Asian and American hot foods bar; a Starbucks coffee and a craft wine and beer bar with indoor seating; meat and seafood departments; expanded organic and produce; a soup and salad bar; and more, including a Harris Teeter fuel center.
Harris Teeter generally does not have adjacent liquor stores, although it does share shopping centers with separate stores that sell alcohol.
The Axios.com news site said in November 2024 that Harris Teeter’s more than 250 stores across the Southeast were up from 227 stores at the time of its merger.
Kroger, it wrote, “saw buying Harris Teeter as a way to tap into a known brand with a loyal following.”
Kroger operates more than 2,700 stores under more than 20 names in 35 states – including the one Harris Teeter in Florida.
Kroger’s status
Kroger Chairman and interim CEO Ron Sargent said in the first-quarter earnings conference call with analysts June 20 that the company is closing about 60 stores in the next 18 months but is “on track to complete 30 major storing projects in 2025.”
“And looking forward, we expect to accelerate new store openings in 2026 and beyond in high growth geographies, growing our overall square footage, and adding new jobs,” he said.
In response to an analyst’s question, Sargent said new store openings “are the biggest driver of market share gains, and we’re continuing to look at that.”
Sargent said Kroger will be investing to accelerate store openings but did not have a number other than it will be “north of the 30 that we open this year.”
Asked to comment on the geography of those openings and the formats Kroger is favoring, Sargent said it takes a while to open a “big Kroger store” and the company is looking at “geography across the country.”
He said there is no specific area, but Kroger will probably favor areas of the country that are growing faster than others.
“We are going to look at ... competitive opportunities or growth within cities that we operate in. But it’s really scattered around the country and there’ll be a variety of store formats.”
Kroger has been adjusting to the departure of its previous CEO and a failed attempt to merge with rival Albertsons.
GroceryDive.com reported April 9 that Kroger spent more than $1 billion over three years in its unsuccessful effort to merge with Albertsons, citing a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The proposed merger “drew fierce opposition from the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general on the grounds that it would be anticompetitive,” the news site reported.
It said Kroger and Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons announced their intention to combine in a deal valued at $24.6 billion in October 2022.
The site reported that on Dec. 10 a federal judge granted the FTC’s request to halt the deal and a judge in Washington also ruled against the merger.
AlbertsonsCompanies.com posted Dec. 11, 2024, that it exercised its right to terminate its merger agreement with Kroger after the U.S. District Court in Oregon and the King County Superior Court for the State of Washington issued injunctions with respect to the proposed merger the day before.
Kroger and Albertsons are in litigation over the deal, and Kroger seeks a new permanent CEO.
Kroger’s June 20 news release about its first-quarter results said its ability to achieve sale and earnings and reach other goals may be affected by many standard factors, but included “the outcome of litigation matters, including those relating to the terminated transaction with Albertsons.”
Looking ahead
Sargent said June 20 that Kroger is “off to a solid start in 2025, and we are optimistic about the rest of the year.”
“While the broader environment continues to be uncertain, we’re focused on serving our customers with great stores. Kroger is operating from a position of strength. Our strategy is flexible enough to allow us to navigate this changing environment.”