PALM BEACH GARDENS — Mark your calendars in green: The Publix at Promenade Plaza in Palm Beach Gardens will reopen on May 8 after staying closed for more than one year, a Publix spokesperson said.
The store on Alternate State Road A1A between Burns Road and Northlake Boulevard closed in February 2024 to make way for an improved version, which will open to shoppers after a 7 a.m. ribbon-cutting that day.
The Lakeland-based grocery chain went as far as to tear down the old store, built in 1989, to make way for the new one, as it’s done at other sites in Palm Beach County.
It’s part of a larger pattern of Publix scrapping its aging stores for larger structures with wide aisles with updated selections and more modern features — like the indoor seating area where customers can eat, the spokesperson said.
Modern-style Publixes also have traditional departments for grocery, dairy, frozen food, seafood, meat and fresh produce and full-service bakery and pharmacy areas.
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Several Publix stores in Palm Beach County have been included in the chain’s overhaul, including at Royal Palm Beach and Okeechobee boulevards and at Wellington Trace and Greenview Shores Boulevard in Wellington.
The Publix at Promenade Plaza will be one of at least three modern-style Publixes in the Palm Beach Gardens area, joining the one now open in Alton and an Avenir store under construction, which was hit by a tornado spawned by Hurricane Milton in October 2024.
How big is the new Publix in Palm Beach Gardens?
The exterior of the Publix located at Promenade Plaza on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Publix Super Markets will tear down its aging store at Promenade Plaza and build a new modern one in its place.
The new Publix at Promenade Plaza is 55,454 square feet, about 30% bigger than its 42,450 square-foot predecessor.
To create that space, Publix bought out one tenant on either side of the store and absorbed their square footage into the new supermarket, according to Natalie Crowley, Palm Beach Gardens director of planning and zoning.
The traffic flow through the plaza will be changed, Crowley said. The project also includes changes to parking and landscaping, and there is a public art requirement.
TRPF Promenade Plaza LLC — a subsidiary of investment firm TIAA’s real estate arm — bought Promenade Plaza in April 2017 for $49.25 million, county property records show.
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Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Publix in Palm Beach Gardens: Info on opening date, why it closed