Publix to build distribution center in Greensboro, N.C.

Publix Super Markets has broken ground on a new refrigerated distribution center in Greensboro, N.C.

The 940,000-square-foot facility will be Publix’s 10th DC overall and first in North Carolina. The Lakeland, Fla.-based grocer said phase one of the project, due to be completed by the end of 2022, will provide more efficient delivery of refrigerated products to Publix locations in the Carolinas and Virginia.

Combined, Publix operates 123 stores in North and South Carolina and Virginia.

Publix CEO Todd Jones, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan inaugurated the new DC today in a groundbreaking ceremony at the Greensboro site.

Publix CEO Todd Jones (left) with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.

“The Greensboro distribution center will play a key role in supporting our growth in the region,” Jones said in a statement. “The hundreds of new associates who join the Publix family will help us provide the premier service our customers have come to expect.”

Publix’s nine other DCs are located in Boynton Beach, Deerfield Beach, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Miami, Orlando and Sarasota, Fla.; Lawrenceville, Ga.; and McCalla, Ala.

The retailer said the Greensboro facility is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs across the region by 2025.

“We appreciate Publix choosing to grow jobs and put down stronger roots in Guilford County and the Piedmont Triad with this new distribution facility,” Cooper stated. “North Carolina will continue to strengthen our workforce to attract more good jobs here in our state.”

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Publix's Todd Jones and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper at the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Greensboro DC.

Plans for the new DC come as Publix continues to enlarge its store footprint. So far this year, the retailer has opened Publix supermarkets in Tampa, St. Johns and Brandon, Fla., and Buford, Ga. Publix also is bidding for five leased stores in Florida from Lucky’s Market, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. And in December, Publix opened GreenWise Market stores in Lexington, S.C., and Lakeland and Boca Raton, Fla. Another GreenWise location is slated to open this year in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Overall, the supermarket chain operates 1,243 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.