Publix to debut another Charlotte area store as part of grocer’s expansion plan
Publix Super Market is expanding again in the Charlotte region, with plans to open its 23rd store this month.
The more than 48,000-square-foot grocery store will debut at 7 a.m. Oct. 23 at 1254 Coddle Creek Highway in Mooresville, Publix said Monday in a news release. The store will hire about 140 full- and part-time employees.
The Lakeland, Florida, grocery chain joins a heated $10.2 billion competition in the Charlotte market, according to sales tracking firm Chain Store Guide.
Publix will anchor the 15-acre Harris Farms Shopping Center, which also includes 11,800-square-foot space for retail and three outparcels, according to developer Cambridge Properties’ website. McDonald’s has leased one of the outparcels, site plans show.
A dentist and a nail salon also signed leases in the retail village, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
The retail shopping center is part of a 136-acre mixed-use development. Plans also include 165 single-family homes, 168 town homes and 382 apartment units, according to Cambridge. The first phases of single-family and townhome residences will be available mid-2025.
Publix expansion in the Charlotte region
The Mooresville store is Publix’s latest expansion after last year’s store opening in North Creek Village at 15010 Village Crossing Road in Huntersville.
Publix opened its first North Carolina store in Ballantyne in early 2014. The Florida-based grocer, is planning to open at least five more stores:
▪ A 55,000-square-foot store with a drive-thru and a proposed private drive at 11525 Carmel Commons is expected to open early next year.
▪ Construction for The Arboretum store at Providence and Pineville-Matthews roads will start by the end of this year or early next year.
▪ A 28,000-square-foot store at the 10 Tryon building on the northwest corner of Tryon and Ninth streets in uptown.
▪ Clear Creek Crossings development on the corner of Albemarle and Rocky River Church roads
▪ A 68,000-square-foot store at the corner of Sharon and Colony roads in South Park.
Grocery store competition
There are 745 grocery stores in the region, up from 722 in 2020, according to Chain Store Guide.
Publix competes with Walmart and other North Carolina chains including Matthews-based Harris Teeter, Salisbury-based Food Lion, Asheville-based Earth Fare and Winston-Salem based Lowes Foods.
Other grocery stores’ plans include:
▪ Sprouts Farmers Market will open a 21,000-square-foot store next summer at the One NoDa Park development on the corner of 36th and Tryon streets, The Charlotte Observer reported. It will be the third location for the Phoenix-based grocer, which opened a store in Steele Creek last fall and has a store in Ballantyne.
▪ Matthews Board of Commissioners recently approved changes to a grocery store plan with signage in an illustration that looks similar to Trader Joe’s. Town officials and the developer, as well as Trader Joe’s, would not confirm which grocer plans to move into the 13,5000-square-foot stand-alone building at Matthews Gateway on East John Street.
▪ In May, Mecklenburg County commissioners approved $1.5 million for California-based grocer Spangler’s to build a 8,000-square-foot store at Kohler and Statesville avenues, north of uptown.
▪ Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans will make its Charlotte debut in 2026 with a 110,000-square-foot grocery store on the east side of Ballantyne in south Charlotte.
▪ The West Boulevard Coalition will open Charlotte’s first cooperative grocery store, Three Sisters Market, next year. The full-service grocery store will debut in an area that’s been without a traditional supermarket for over 30 years.
Observer reporter Joe Marusak contributed to this article.