Publix Continues N.C. Push

As part of its continuing aggressive expansion in North Carolina, Publix Super Markets Inc. will enter the Tarheel State’s Asheville and Cary markets.

The 49,000-square-foot Asheville store will include a drive-through pharmacy and is expected to open in 2015, while the grand-opening date of the 49,000-square-foot Cary location will depend on several factors, among them permitting and completion of the supermarket’s construction, but the opening is tentatively slated for late 2014.

“We’ve made a commitment to North Carolina and its residents to bring our level of stellar service and quality products to market in order to provide customers with the superior shopping experience they deserve,” said Maria Brous, media and community relations director at Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix. “As company owners, we are passionately focused on our customers. We believe that if we take care of our associates, they in turn will take care of our customers, and together we will make our communities a better place. This is our culture, and we are excited about sharing it with North Carolina just as we have in the other five states in which we operate.”

Publix’s first three planned North Carolina locations are a store in Ballantyne, opening in early 2014, and two in greater Charlotte, both debuting in late 2014.

Privately owned and operated by its 160,000 employees, Publix has 1,072 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.