Is Publix actually coming to a former Beaufort movie theater site? Now we know more
Publix plans to open a new store in Beaufort next year, adding a second new location to the chain’s plans for Beaufort County.
The 48,387-square-foot grocery store is expected to open in Beaufort Plaza in the fall of 2021, according to a news release from the City of Beaufort.
The new store would be on the southeast section of the plaza, to the rear of a movie theater previously on the site, the news release said.
City documents filed in 2018 showed plans for a Publix after the theater built in 1975 was torn down.
The changes at the shopping center were expected to follow the $33-million Boundary Street redevelopment project meant to make one of the city’s main thoroughfares more welcoming and spur development in the area.
A coming soon sign could be placed at the corner of Boundary Street and Robert Smalls Parkway as soon as Friday, said Paul Trask of Beaufort Plaza. Site work will soon follow, and construction could start in January.
Trask said other new businesses expected to open in the center will be announced soon, and more renovations such as new asphalt, landscaping and lighting are in the works.
Another new Publix location is already under construction in Bluffton, near the traffic circle at S.C. 170 and S.C. 46 in May River Crossing. That store, according to a Publix spokesperson, is expected to open in the first quarter of 2021 and will serve residents in the Palmetto Bluff and New Riverside areas.
A specific opening date for the Bluffton store and information about jobs were not available.
Publix already has six grocery stores in Beaufort and Jasper counties: Two on Hilton Head, two in Bluffton, one on Lady’s Island and one in Hardeeville.
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 12:46 PM.
