A new grocery store is coming to Mills River, though it’s uncertain when it will open.
A sign for a Publix Super Market went up last week on N.C. 280 right beside a Bojangles restaurant. The future site of the supermarket is just down the road from an Ingles, which has been the only major grocer in Mills River since a Food Lion closed in 2017.
Publix spokesperson Jared Glover confirmed a Publix store would be coming to the site and provided a news release announcing the new location.
“An opening timeframe has yet to be determined,” the release said, but when open, the store will employ “approximately 140 associates.”
The release also said the store will be 50,325 square feet. This is in line with a zoning permit issued by the town of Mills River on March 8.
According to previous Times-News reporting, the new grocery store will be part of a complex known as the Marketplace at Mills River.
The applicant for the zoning permit was Asa Harris, president of Harris Development Partners based in Raleigh. The development firm is not new to working with grocery stores, with past clients including Publix, Whole Foods, Walmart, Harris Teeter, and Lowes Foods.
A representative for Harris Development Partners was unable to answer questions about the development by press time.
The Mills River Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to approve a special use permit for the site in October of last year, according to previous Times-News reporting.
According to the Publix website, the chain was founded in 1930 in Winter Haven, Florida, and currently has more than 1,300 stores across the Southeast, including 54 in North Carolina.
Karrigan Monk is the reporter for Black Mountain News and Hendersonville Times-News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Publix coming to Mills River, chain confirms
