Publix opens Fort Myers store a year after demolition

Publix opened a new Fort Myers store Thursday morning replacing one that had been demolished as part of a redevelopment last year.

The new 48,387-square-foot store is in the Daniels Crossing shopping center at the intersection of Daniels Parkway and Six Mile Cypress in the city.

In a statement, the Lakeland grocer says the store has grocery, dairy, frozen food, seafood, meat and produce departments as well as a full-service bakery, deli, pharmacy and an adjacent Publix Liquors. It also features a seating area for customers.

Publix demolished its previous store in the center in August 2024 about two months after closing it. That store had operated in Daniels Crossing since 1990.

The Publix-anchored shopping center is owned by a partnership between St. Petersburg-based The Sembler Co. and Tampa-based Forge Capital Partners. The pair bought the center through the Forge Real Estate Partners IV investment fund in 2021. It paid $15.5 million for the 112,003-square-foot center.

According to a leasing brochure on Forge’s website, the tenant roster at the shopping center includes Quest Diagnostics, School of Rock, Duck Donuts, Island Nails & Spa, First Impressions Ultrasound and Subway.

Publix currently operates 1,416 stores in eight southern states, 880 of them in Florida. Since Aug. 27 it has opened five stores — two in North Carolina last month, two in Kentucky this month and the one in Fort Myers.

It reopened a store in Bradenton in July.

The chain employs 260,000 and had $59.7 billion in sales last year.