Publix to open next Thurs. in West Jackson
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
Publix Super Markets will open its latest store in West Jackson next Thursday, May 1.
The 45,300 square-foot store located at 6055 Ga. Hwy. 124 in the new West Jackson Crossing shopping center will mark the first Jackson County store for Publix. Another store is located nearby in Braselton on Ga. Hwy. 211 in Barrow County.
Publix said it will employ 80 people at the Hoschton store that will include a pharmacy, bakery, deli and seafood. The store will also feature the traditional grocery, meat, produce, dairy and frozen food departments.
A ribbon cutting ceremony is planned on May 1, at 9 a.m. Regular store hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Publix currently has 928 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The company is based in Lakeland, Fla.
The West Jackson Publix is located at the intersection of Ga. Hwy. 124 and Ga. Hwy. 332 — a growing area primarily anchored by Traditions of Braselton, the county’s largest residential development.
Also at the intersection, grading is underway for a new CVS pharmacy. The company is building a 12,900 square-foot store that is expected to open in August, according to the Jackson County public development office.
Representatives for McDonald’s and Burger King have also talked to planning officials about opening stores at the intersection, but no plans have been submitted to the Jackson County public development office.
A sign for West Jackson Crossing on the 14-acre site lists other potential tenants as Great Clips, Nail Talk and Tan, and Esquire Cleaners.
And plans to install a traffic light at the intersection haven’t been approved yet, according to Georgia Department of Transportation spokesperson Teri Pope.
Jackson County submitted results of a traffic study at the intersection to the DOT, but the agency determined that the intersection doesn’t warrant a traffic signal now.
When the intersection meets the DOT’s minimum standards for a traffic signal, the state agency will provide equipment to the county, Pope said on Friday.
The DOT also asked Jackson County to make corrections to the traffic study it submitted to the DOT, she added. That document hasn’t been returned to the state agency.
