RICHWOOD, Ky. — Publix Super Markets has signed a lease for its sixth Kentucky store, a location in Boone County that planning documents hinted at months ago.
A site plan for the Triple Crown Retail Center shows a “proposed grocery store” on a 13-acre site at 420-450 Richwood Road near I-71. The document lists an engineering firm and developer from North Carolina that has built Publix stores before. The store’s size is identical to stores already announced in Kentucky by the Florida-based grocery chain.
At the time, Publix spokesperson Jeremy Glover said they didn't "currently have any plans to share for that location." Now, Publix is releasing more information.
"Publix at Triple Crown Shopping Center will feature a 55,701-square-foot Publix supermarket and an adjacent Publix Liquors, that will offer beer, wine and spirits," the chain said in a release.
Triple Crown is one of the region’s biggest housing developments, with 2,300 homes already built and 200 more planned, said Donna Berling, a realtor in the Florence office of Huff Realty. She declined to comment on the site’s prospects for attracting the region’s first Publix store.
Publix has already announced locations in Louisville and a Lexington store that opened late last year. Developers are also advancing retail projects in Union, just a mile down the road from Greater Cincinnati's second-largest Kroger Marketplace store, as well as Cold Spring and Independence.
Although it has never competed against Kroger in its hometown, Publix is familiar to Kroger shoppers because it’s a dominant retail chain in Florida, operating more than 800 stores in popular vacation destinations.
A Northern Kentucky store would heighten competition between the companies by invading Kroger’s hometown, where it has maintained a market share of close to 50% for decades. Kroger has tested various grocery formats in Florida, but more recently adopted a delivery-only model in the Sunshine State, using distribution centers in Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville.
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