Publix opens rebuilt Royal Palm Beach supermarket; store was scene of fatal shootings
ROYAL PALM BEACH — Bigger, brighter and sleeker, the Publix Super Market in The Crossroads shopping plaza in Royal Palm Beach reopened Thursday after being closed for nearly two years.
The Lakeland-based chain demolished the store in the fall of 2021 and rebuilt it. It now covers 54,964 square feet and features a new prototype design, with wider aisles, a café-style seating area and a "Bakery of the Future" serving sandwiches, pastries and freshly baked cinnamon rolls.
"It's a completely different store," said Stacy Ortiz of Royal Palm Beach, who shopped there Thursday and marveled at how "everything is new, new products, new style."
"It makes you feel like you are in an upscale Publix, in an upscale neighborhood," Ortiz said.
Store's closing, demolition was months in planning
The store, at Okeechobee and Royal Palm Beach boulevards, drew national attention on June 10, 2021, when a man shot and killed a woman and her grandson and then himself. The closing and demolition was planned before the deaths of Litha Varone and her grandson, Samuel.
“We are excited to welcome our customers to their new store at the Crossroads at Royal Palm Beach and look forward to providing them with the premier service and quality Publix is known for,” Lindsey Willis, a Publix spokesperson, said in a prepared statement.
Willis says the Publix at The Crossroads underwent a complete facelift during its reconstruction.
The new store has an expanded area for fruit and produce, as well as the traditional departments for grocery, dairy, frozen food, seafood and meat.
And there's more.
The store's look is modern, decorated in dark greens and grays and less of the primary green long associated with Publix. Photos of foods adorn the wells, and shoppers now can use self-checkout lanes.
Its international section is larger than many older stores and features items from numerous parts of the world including Mexico, South America, Europe and the Middle East, all of them organized by region. Visitors even will find regional American items there, such as Cajun products.
A "Bakery of the Future" — a prototype for other stores — serves hot breakfast sandwiches and freshly baked cinnamon rolls in the morning and hot, savory pastries in the afternoon.
An entire refrigerated dairy section is devoted to Hispanic products including queso fresco, tequeňos and Mexican chorizo.
People who love nuts and dried fruits will find an aisle full of bulk items from cashews and granola to milk chocolate raisins.
The pharmacy is a corner rather than merely a window, with a full counter for service and a free blood-pressure checking machine.
There is a seating area within the store for those who want to eat prepared and grab-and-go items.
Plato the Publixaurus was on hand to greet and pose for photos with shoppers, who also enjoyed free samples of smoked fish dip and fruit.
Publix bringing newer stores to western Palm Beach County
The opening is part of a busy period for Publix in Palm Beach County's western communities.
It opened a store in Westlake in early June, becoming the westernmost store in Palm Beach County and the first grocery store to open in the planned community.
Publix soon will start work on overhauling an older store at The Courtyard shopping plaza along Greenview Shores Boulevard in Wellington. Like the store at The Crossings, that property is expected to close for several months.
Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Loxahatchee and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Rebuilt Publix store opens at Royal Palm site where 3 died in shooting
