Aldi, Publix open three stores in a week across Tampa region

Grocery giants Publix and Aldi added to their footprints in the past week, opening three stores in the area and announcing a fourth.

The opening blitz began last week when Publix opened a new store March 5 in Clearwater.

The 46,791-square-foot store is at 1295 S. Missouri Ave. off of Drew Street in the Clearwater Plaza shopping center. The store, the Lakeland grocer says, features its traditional departments as well as an indoor seating area.

That was followed a week later by another opening in Pinellas County.

Publix opened a 55,454 square-foot store at 6605 38th Ave N. just off 66th Street north Thursday, March 12. It is across from HCA Florida St. Petersburg Hospital.

It too features the chain’s traditional departments. Both stores also have adjacent Publix Liquor stores.

Publix now has 1,430 stores across the southeast, 888 of them in Florida. It employs more than 260,000 people and had $59.7 billion in sales in 2024.  

Aldi, meanwhile, opened one store in the region and announced it would open a second in coming months.

The new store opened in Tampa Thursday on the site of a former Winn-Dixie.

It is at 8438 N Armenia Ave. just off Waters Avenue. It’s the off-price, no-frills grocers’ 11th store in Tampa.

Aldi’s planned store is in the Wellen Park master planned community. The 12,00-square-foot store will be at U.S. Highway 41 and Mezzo Drive in the Venice Plaza, a new shopping center.

The store is under construction and due to open in the summer.

Aldi, according to its website, has 302 stores open or opening in Florida.

The Illinois grocer announced in January it plans to open 180 stores nationwide this year to get its store count to about 2,800 locations.

Aldi’s plans call for reaching 3,200 stores by the end of 2028 at which point, the company says, it “will have invested $9 billion over five years to expand its store footprint, strengthen its supply chain, and upgrade its online shopping experience.”

Among its growth plans in Florida is a new distribution center in Duval County that’s projected to open next year.