Skip to main content

Jim, thank you for your email. We have no plans for the Shoals area as we
aren't reviewing new markets at this time. As we expand in the future perhaps
we may consider this area.

Nancy Bowman
Real Estate Department
Assistant to Bob Burkett
Phone #(863) 688-7407 ext 52250
Email: Nancy.Bowman@mail.publix.com

Just me!!

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

SO--we continue in the Shoals to be a desert, a wasteland insofar as quality food shopping is concerned.

An historical factor contributing to this situation is the notorious, hard-edged, my-way-or-the-highway union strike carried out against the Kroger company in the Shoals in the 1980s. That ill-advised and totally unsuccessful action probably soured many of the big national operators on the Shoals for decades to come. We were fortunate to have Winn-Dixie for a time, but when they downsized, it was all over for this area. The local Walmart stores now have the whip hand in this area and they continue to raise prices, heading toward a price structure that ultimately will not be much different from the little regional chains like Big Star, Southern Family, and Foodland. The worst thing about Walmart is the lack of variety. They stock almost entirely the big profit items. I would estimate that Publix stocks at least 50 percent more individual items than Walmart.

The best deals around are now at ALDI. I hope they continue to prosper and drain business from Walmart. Urge all your friends to shop there. I hope they open a store across the river soon and give Walmart even more grief!

More on Walmart--The link below indicates that they are having some struggles on the domestic front:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=53&articleid=20100219_53_E3_NEWYOR412808
Last edited by beternU
I think it boils down to people being too lazy to look at grocery stores in this area. I haven't bought groceries in Walmart in 10 years. Most people go there because they think of making one trip to get all and not really about the price of products. So Walmart eases up the prices and consumers really don't notice the change. Shame Publix doesn't come. I really enjoy their stores.
I received the same email from Publix a few months ago when I wrote them trying to tout the benefits of opening up in the Shoals.
Beternu is exactly right about the Kroger deal, I love Kroger but doubt they will ever open another store in our area.
Our choices for grocery shopping are pretty slim here, for the time being we do most of our grocery shopping at Foodland, Sam's, and Wal-Mart.
It may very well be that not all folks can afford to shop at Publix. The store in Huntsville
is totally out of my price range and I am not broke. I find equally good merchandise at other stores and not priced out the wahzoo. I love the selections there, but not the overpricing. Southern Markets had the same problem. They came in here low priced (Food World) until Winn Dixie and A & P left town, then launched a price rocket. They went down also. I think Publix knows this area does not have enough of an economic base to support them. MHO
Note also that many companies or businesses refuse to acknowledge, from their corporate headquarters, that they are moving into an area or even considering it until it's officially announced by the company through the media outlets.

There are many reasons for this but most likely the main reason is that people tend to raise their prices, for their land or business locations quite a bit if they think some deep pockets company might be interested in their land/property. Most companies therefore like to keep a very low key when it comes to looking for property or locations and they will usually secure a real Estate company and talk to the Chamber of Commerce before coming into an area and all correspondence or dealings with those folks are on a confidentiality basis only.
i live in tuscumbia part time and florida part time. in florida there is a publix around every corner, i have a least 5 within a few miles from my home. i am an organic vegan, and prefer whole foods. i plan on moving to tuscumbia full time; but will have to make a monthly run to a publix, and will end up at whole foods in memphis a couple times a year to stock up. i have contacted publix too, and have gotten the same answer. i am hoping they change their mind when the college expands. i end up getting a lot of stuff at the 3 health food stores in the shoals. i live in a big city in florida but much prefer the shoals way of life. it's a trade off, people are so creepy in florida, but i can get anything i need within a few minutes. i hate walmart, but go to the one in muscle shoals for my lettuce. where is sams, and do they have organic produce? also where is a fresh market, i think their stuff is just ok, but i am spoiled by whole foods.
While in Decatur today we made it a point to stop at Publix. No doubt Publix has some items that many will consider higher than at their competition but there are so many more areas where Publix has such better and higher quality items than the other stores. When they put the buy one get one free sales on they are very competitive with their competition. I did make it a point to ask about a potential location in the Shoals and I was told that corporate had sent a team, last week, via air from Florida to the Shoals area to look it over and make plans but they also said that they didn't know if any decisions were made.

I'm still hoping that they come to the Shoals but I'm afraid that many will consider them too high and give up on them before giving them a chance. They aren't Aldi but all in all you get what you pay for.
Well my wife come home 3wks ago said that she had real good info that Publix is going in the Martin's Clothing Building and Martin's is moving to Strip Mall down the road I just laughed at her and told her where ever she heard that info it was noway it was true and bet her $25.00 they weren't coming so I might have to pay her boy I would hate that
Odds are that the rumor that the Martin's location is the place they are going in. I don't know where Martins will go but if I had to bet, and I don't, I would say that Martin's will be torn down and a new Publix building will go on that site along with it's own strip mall of which a new Martins would be a part of.

That's my guess then. Martins will close temporarily and the building cleared. The land that Martin's is now on will be cleared as well as the land that runs alongside the road that goes behind Target.

If you look at the Publix in Athens I envision a similar complex here and as a part of it would be a new Martins store. Quite possibly a Firehouse subs or Sweet Peppers Deli would be a possibility since the Athen's Publix complex has a Sweet Pepper's deli there. I doubt that Sweet Peppers and Firehouse Subs would be in the same area though. Hey since we are guessing it seems logical. At least to me.
The original location was not Martin, but across from The Kangaroo on the other side of Cox Creek. But it was not going to be cost effective to have to move the power substation. The rumor now is that they will move into Books-A-Million building. However, I do not know what this means for BAM or Hibbett. But I do know that there is an issue with the entrances, as it is my understanding they are wanting an entrance directly off cox creek without the access road there. Not sure how feasible that is with the drop off there. I think that is a big holdup there.

Of course, this all could just be conjecture, but I have heard bits and pieces from numerous reliable sources.
Personally I don't care if it is down where Books a Million is I'll just be glad to have a Publix and that will become my number one grocery destination. I can't though see them occupy BAM and Hibbit but I'd wager anything, if that is right, that they will tear them both down and build a new store with some satellite stores to boot. Given the information that has been out about Sweet Peppers eyeing that area also I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them make a move in that direction then.
Can I be a buzzkill for a moment? Not much, because overall I think it's great for the Shoals to have a more "upscale" grocer. There are three Publix (Publixes? Publixii?) here in Chattanooga, and I have visited there a time or two. Personally I think most of their items are a bit more expensive than competitors, but they certainly have other things that can't be found anywhere else. A new BAM will also be nice. As their "home", it would be neat to see a sort of "flagship" store built here.

I'm just disappointed with the location. Cox Creek is already congested enough in that immediate area. And no, the traffic doesn't really even compare to some of the worst traffic here. But it's still a bottleneck. I don't blame Publix - they want to be in a high traffic area. I'll also wait to see exactly what the planning commission approves. Maybe the traffic won't be simply dumped onto Hough Road. Right now though, it looks like a lousy traffic situation will get worse. I wish Florence would look at expanding business either west on Cox Creek, or eastward on Florence Blvd.

There's also a lot of room adjacent to the Kohl's building. Despite the economic downturn, I'm a little surprised nothing has ever piggybacked on that location.
No buzz kill here. You make perfect sense Smooth. With the traffic that is already there adding more for Publix, it will be probably the worst intersection in the Shoals. From the way the paper read, the whole property will be raised if I read it right and hopefully they will address the traffic flow this will generate. The article also went on to say BAM will relocate but it didn't mention Hibbetts.
The problem here, in the Shoals, is not with Publix. When I lived in Atlanta (McDonough) we had a Publix immediately behind our subdivision and that was our store of choice. There were three other chains (including ALDI) that were in competition as well as Kroger. On the surface many believe Publix to be far more expensive and many won't shop there for that reason. They pick out two or three items that they may need and look at those. Problem is that Publix offers many Buy One Get One free items and you don't have to buy two in order to get the sale price. Additionally Publix, over any other grocery chain, maintains a higher quality and standard on it's own Store Labeled items which area discounted.

Will you always reduce your overall shopping bill by shopping solely at Publix? No! I do believe though that given the much nicer stores, greater assortment of items, quality of merchandise and shopping experience with wider isles, informative people that Publix will become a major player in the supermarket industry around here and become many people's first choice of where to shop.

There will remain a place for AUDI and it's shoppers will not generally find Publix to their liking but I'm enthused that Publix is considering the area and I hope enough people, that have never shopped there before, give it a few tries before they condemn it.

Oh by the way ... the Deli, meat market, and seafood markets within the store cannot be equalled by any other retailer we have in this area. Crocodile Ed's will find competition at Publix's seafood market and Publix will prepare it for you right there before you leave if you want.

Classy, Quality, decent prices and above average shopping experience I believe has made Publix one of the highest rated grocers in the US. I hope they continue to come here and I'm looking forward to it.

Add Reply

Post

Untitled Document
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×