Publix widens expansion into Kentucky

Publix Super Markets, which is making its moves into Kentucky, has executed a lease on a second new store location in Lexington, the grocery retailer announced on Friday.

The new store will be at Citation Point in the southeast corner of Georgetown Road and Clitation Boulevard. An opening timeframe was not announced for the 46,000-square-foot grocery store.  

Kentucky is the eighth state for the fast-growing Florida retailer's portfolio and is a market dominated by long-established retailers Kroger and Walmart. Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. is headquartered less than 100 miles north of Lexington.

Publix previously announced that it had signed a lease for the grocer’s first store in Lexington, at the Fountains at Palomar, at the northwest corner of Man O’ War Boulevard and Harrodsburg Road. The grocer said this store is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2024. The 55,701-square-foot supermarket will have a drive-thru Publix pharmacy and an adjacent 3,200-square-foot Publix Liquors.

The Lakeland, Florida-based grocer also has stores planned for the Louisville area. The site of its first Kentucky store  will be located in Louisville's Terra Crossing shopping center and is tentatively slated to open its doors in late 2023.  

Publix said the 55,701-square-foot store in Louisville will feature a drive-thru Publix pharmacy and an adjacent 3,200-square-foot Publix, which will be the first Publix Liquors located outside the state of Florida.

Closing out fiscal 2022, Publix Super Markets experienced steady sales growth as the employee-owned grocer continues to increase its footprint with new store openings.

As one of the largest employee-owned grocers in the U.S., Publix employs more than 225,000 associates at its nearly 1,333 locations in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.