HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – The radio blared, employees filled the aisles and construction workers put finishing touches on the brand-new Publix Super Market in downtown Huntsville on Tuesday afternoon.
Publix,
which has built a grocery store and drive-thru pharmacy at the $100 million Twickenham
Square development near Huntsville Hospital, will open to the public at 7 a.m.
Wednesday after a 6:45 a.m. ribbon cutting with Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle,
Sen. Paul Sanford and Rep. Jim Patterson. It will be the 12th Publix location to open in the Huntsville metro area.
The 33,500-square-foot store on 310 Pelham Ave. S.W. is smaller than Publix's typical suburban locations, but Downtown Huntsville, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Chad Emerson believes the development will work for the growing center city.
"We are one of the smallest downtowns in the country to get this urban prototype, which shows you that Publix believes our downtown is a very strong market," he said. "Publix doesn't build these downtown prototypes just anywhere. Typically, they limit them to where they have a strong level of confidence of success."
In addition to grocery, dairy and frozen food departments, the store offers a full-service meat department, seafood and sushi counters and bakery. The produce department will sell both organic and conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables, while the deli will serve Boar's Head meats and cheeses, made-to-order sub sandwiches and fried and rotisserie chicken.
A full-service pharmacy will also be available at the new Publix, which employs about 100 workers and will offer free parking to customers in a nearby garage. Regular store hours will be 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
"From colleagues outside of Huntsville, I've heard a lot of envy because just about every downtown in the Southeast would love to get not just this Publix but the entire Twickenham Square development," Emerson said. "Locally, we've heard a lot of curiosity and interest because it's a less than typical type of retail store."
Brenda Reid, spokeswoman for Publix, said the company is excited to be "a part of growth for this city ... and the redevelopment of downtown Huntsville."
"We anticipate business will be a little slow at the beginning because they're still building around us," she said. "It sort of looks like a construction zone when you drive by, but we anticipate that later on in the year, as the apartments begin to open and people begin to know we're here, this will be a good place for us."
The first 1,000 shoppers on Wednesday will receive a free Publix reusable grocery bag, while the first 25 customers who spend $50 or more will take home a free bag of groceries valued at $25. Store officials will also hand out free flowers while supplies last.
Activities for kids, including a balloon artist and on-site magician, will take place from 3-7 p.m. Publix will give away prizes throughout the day, including a $100 store gift card and free cakes, deli platters and meat and seafood products.
In addition to a five-story office tower, Twickenham Square will have a 246-unit loft apartment building called Artisan at Twickenham Square, which will open in June. Pre-leasing of the luxury units began in early February with the launch of a new sales center at 411 St. Clair Ave. S.W.
Homewood Suites by Hilton was the first business to open at Twickenham Square in March. Mei Wei, Cajun Steamer Bar & Grill and Taco Mama are also preparing for launch later this year.
Beaute Nail Spa, a full-service nail salon, is on target to open this fall, as well. Once fully operational, the Twickenham project will be a true live-work-play development for area residents, Emerson said.
[Related: Take a photo tour of $100M Twickenham Square development]
Send Lucy Berry an email at lberry@al.com.
Updated at 8:59 p.m. to say the store is 33,500 square feet, not 28,000. Although Publix issued a news release with the 28,000 figure, Twickenham developer Sam Yeager of Bristol Development said the store is actually larger.