Written by Dan Monk for WCPO
Publix Supermarkets has “nothing to share” about a Northern Kentucky store opening, but a planning document from Boone County offers food for thought.
A site plan for the Triple Crown Retail Center shows a “proposed grocery store” measuring 55,701 square feet on a 13-acre site at 420-450 Richwood Road near I-71. The document lists an engineering firm and developer from North Carolina that have built Publix stores before. The store’s size is identical to three stores already announced in Kentucky by the Florida-based grocery chain.
“While we are excited about bringing the Publix Super Market experience to Kentucky and always looking to expand our footprint, we don’t currently have any plans to share for that location,” said Publix spokesman Jeremy Glover.
Triple Crown is one of the region’s biggest housing developments, with 2,300 homes already built and 200 more planned, said Donna Berling, a realtor in the Florence office of Huff Realty. She declined to comment on the site’s prospects for attracting the region’s first Publix store.
Calls placed to the engineering firm, Ark Consulting LLC and, developer, C4 Investments, were not returned.
Publix announced its fourth Kentucky location in December, a Louisville store expected to open by next summer. That will be its third Louisville store, while a Lexington store opened late last year.
Greater Cincinnati shoppers have been buzzing about the Richwood location on social media in recent weeks. Industry observers have speculated that Publix would enter Northern Kentucky since 2022, when it first announced Kentucky as an expansion state.
Although it has never competed against Kroger in its hometown, Publix is familiar to Kroger shoppers because it’s a dominant retail chain in Florida, operating more than 800 stores in popular vacation destinations.
A Northern Kentucky store would heighten competition between the companies by invading Kroger’s hometown, where it has maintained a market share of close to 50% for decades. Kroger has tested various grocery formats in Florida, but more recently adopted a delivery-only model in the Sunshine State, using distribution centers in Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville.
