Publix breaks ground on first Kentucky location

Publix Super Markets has broken ground on its first store in Kentucky and unveiled plans for a third location in the state.

Announced last September, the 55,701-square-foot Publix supermarket at 2500 Terra Crossing Blvd. in the Terra Crossing Shopping Center in Louisville, Ky., is expected to be completed in the 2023 fourth quarter, Publix said Thursday. The store will bring the Lakeland, Fla.-based grocer into its eighth state.

Publix noted that the first Louisville store, at the northwest corner of Terra Crossing Boulevard and Old Henry Road in Jefferson County, also will house a drive-thru pharmacy and have an adjacent , 3,200-square-foot Publix Liquors outlet — the first outside Florida — that will sell beer, wine and spirits.

“It’s an exciting day for Publix Super Markets as we break ground in our eighth state,” Publix CEO Todd Jones said in a statement. “When our founder, George Jenkins, opened the first Publix store, he wanted to create a better grocery store — one that kept associates and customers top of mind. More than 90 years later, we’ve kept true to our values, including supporting the communities in which we live and work. We look forward to sharing the Publix difference with Kentuckians.” 

In addition, Publix reported that it has signed a lease for a third Kentucky store, in the city of Lexington. The 55,701-square-foot supermarket will be located at the northwest corner of Man O’ War Boulevard and Harrodsburg Road in the Fountains at Palomar, a mixed-used development expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2024. The Publix store also will feature a drive-thru pharmacy and a neighboring 3,200-square-foot Publix Liquors outlet.

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Publix, too, had announced plans for a second Louisville store last December. Situated at the northeast corner of Ballardsville and Brownsboro roads, the 55,701-square-foot supermarket is slated to go into operation in the 2024 first quarter and, like the other Kentucky locations, include  a drive-thru Publix Pharmacy and an adjacent, 3,200-square-foot Publix Liquors.

Overall, Publix currently operates 1,296 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Most recently, Publix expanded its footprint to Virginia, the company’s seventh state, in July 2017 with the opening of a 49,000-square-foot store in Glen Allen, Va. That followed the grocer’s entry into North Carolina, its sixth state, in February 2014 with the opening of a store in Charlotte.