First Look: Downtown Birmingham Publix Opening Wednesday

BY AL.com

The shelves are stocked. The employees are trained. The last produce and meat will go out just before the long-anticipated downtown Birmingham Publix opens.

The store opens Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 7 a.m., just after a 6:45 a.m. ribbon cutting with Mayor William Bell. The store is the first of Publix's urban stores to open in the Birmingham market.

The store at 230 20th St. S. will have regular hours of 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. This store will have a full deli as well as hot soup options. Publix spokeswoman Brenda Reid said this location will especially emphasize lunch options, including sushi, and the store has a small cafe and in-store wifi.

The new store will also have a larger selection of take-and-heat meals that don't require any preparation past heating up, like a chuck roast or flat-iron steak platter.

The Lakeland, Florida-based store has more than 60 locations in Alabama.

The Publix is part of the 20 Midtown development, the massive mixed-use project at 20th Street South and 3rd Avenue South. The project now sits on four different city blocks and makes up about 5.6 acres of downtown real estate, the most recent addition to the project being the Liberty National Building.

The store will have 130 parking spots dedicated to the Publix on the second and third levels of the building, as well as street parking and some in the alley. The deck spots will have access to an elevator that will take a shopper directly inside the store, so in bad weather the shopper won't ever have to go outside. The entrance to the dedicated spots is located on 19th Street South.