Publix Breaks Ground in Newberry

NEWBERRY ‒ What has been touted as Alachua County’s largest Publix grocery store officially broke ground in Newberry on Thursday morning, Jan. 4. A crowd of citizens, local officials, a county commissioner and a state representative were in attendance to witness the event.  In addition to Newberry City Commissioners and Mayor Jordan Marlowe, Alachua County Commissioner Anna Prizzia, Alachua County Sheriff Emery Gainey and U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack were in attendance.

The chain store bought the nine-acre plot on the corner of West Newberry Road and County Road 235 in August and is working with Carolina Holdings to develop a 55,000-square-foot grocery store and 7,700 square feet of retail space on the site.

Although Publix has not yet announced an official timeline, it estimates the store will be open about nine months after the groundbreaking. The Florida-based grocery chain has a spate of new store openings scheduled in Florida this month. New locations include Fort Myers, Sanford, Wesley Chapel, and Panama City.

Publix itself is not only expected to be a source of jobs, but it will also attract other businesses to the retail areas within the shopping center to provide additional income sources for the community.

In an earlier interview, Marlowe said a Publix in Newberry is more than a grocery store. Publix does extensive vetting of an area’s growth rates and demographics before establishing a location there, so this move signals a shift in growth patterns.

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