Publix preparing to renovate Columbus store over the holidays

It’s approaching two decades of age, thus the Publix supermarket at 7600 Schomburg Road in Columbus is getting a renovation over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Brenda Reid, media and community relations manager with a Publix regional office in Atlanta, confirmed Monday that the 37,505-square-foot grocery store is due for a remodeling.

“It will take place between mid-November and January,” she said. “I’m not at liberty to share details about what’s coming because we want it to be competitive. So we prefer to hold on to that information.”

A city building permit shows $400,000 is being spent on the work, with Benning Construction the contractor.

The store, located in Parkway Centre shopping center just off J.R. Allen Parkway, was constructed in 1999. It is the primary anchor for the strip center, which has a tenant lineup that includes Goodwill, Anytime Fitness, Lin China, Cuts by Us, Subway, Columbus Nails, Ace Cleaners, Bruster’s Ice Cream and Hungry Howie’s Pizza. Separate buildings in the commercial area include Columbus School of Music and Dance, Jean Evans Salon, Omega Card Games, Eiland Pools and Serff Orthodontics. Fronting the property are Zaxby’s, Bojangles and Tire Engineers.

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The Schomburg Road Publix is among five supermarkets operated by Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix Super Markets, a privately owned company. The corporation has periodically invested in its existing stores here, even having replaced one by constructing a new and larger one a few years ago at Cross Country Plaza on Macon Road.

The company’s store on Summerville Road in Phenix City underwent its own renovation less than a year ago, with that makeover including an expanded pharmacy area and a more formal customer service area. Much of the work was performed at night after the store’s closing. That remodel also included shuffling some of the grocery items around.

The Schomburg Road location is being refreshed with a Walmart Neighborhood Market opening just a mile away at 7800 Blackmon Road earlier this year. The Walmart store is an anchor of sorts for an area on Blackmon Road that is now seeing construction in the form of strip shopping centers and an Ace Hardware store. A Walmart Supercenter is located just three miles away from the Schomburg Road Publix on Gateway Road.

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Publix preparing to renovate Columbus store over the holidays."