Nearly two years after a tornado destroyed a Publix supermarket on the verge of opening in Avenir, residents of the growing western Palm Beach Gardens community finally have a new store to call their own.
Florida’s signature grocer opened the new store on May 21 in the Avenir Town Center at 12535 Northlake Blvd., west of Florida’s Turnpike.
The first day saw customers peruse shopping aisles and enjoy samples as vehicles advertising the store’s opening drove through surrounding neighborhoods. A giant motorized shopping cart caught the attention of the customers as it cruised through the parking lot.
“We’re proud to welcome customers to their new Publix,” Lindsey Willis, Publix media relations manager, said in a statement. “Following last year’s weather event in the area, it’s especially meaningful to open our doors and continue being there for our customers with the service and quality products they know and love.”
The new store is one of the larger new Publix venues at 48,388 square feet and features traditional amenities such as a bakery, a deli, a pharmacy and a liquor store. It also features an upstairs seating area for customers. It joins several other newer stores across Palm Beach County.
Publix planned to open the Avenir store in the fall of 2024, but an EF3 tornado spawned by Hurricane Milton that October caused significant damage to the nearly completed structure, as well as to several nearby homes. Spanning nearly 4,800 acres, Avenir is a mixed-used development of residential homes, businesses, schools, parks and nature preserve areas in western Palm Beach Gardens.
The new Publix will be one of two major grocery chains opening in the next few months in or near Avenir, which will have more than 4,000 homes once it is built out.
A 22,000 square-foot Aldi store is under construction at the Coconut Crossing development at the southwest corner of Northlake Boulevard and Coconut Boulevard, across from an entrance to Avenir. The store is scheduled to open in the summer, an Aldi spokesperson said.
Julius Whigham II covers northern Palm Beach County and public safety for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Publix opens in Avenir after tornado destruction. What new store offers
Reporting by Julius Whigham II, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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