Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Ever since the grocery store at the corner of Centre & 6th Streets closed and turned into an antique mall, probably in the early 80s I'm guessing, this Publix has been my go-to when in Fernandina. Also, Publix "Presto" ATMs are about the only sure thing for not triggering a fraud alert on my debit card when I am on the road, so imagine my surprise last week when I went to get some cash and found the whole store mostly demolished.

According to local reports, the store closed in April and is to be rebuilt in place as a larger store, with Publix Pours kiosk which sounds like more of an internal restaurant than the current deli sections. Apparently the new store is to be like the one in Wellington a place I don't believe I have ever heard of before.

This shopping center, Island Walk Shopping Center is the site of several other posts here, including Kmart and Barberitos.

In the interim, there is a Publix west on A1A a few miles at the new Wildlight development in Yulee.

I wonder if Barberitos is struggling? As I noted here and here, both Midlands locations of the chain closed some time ago. Personally I liked this Fernandina Beach location better than either of those as it had ground beef as a topping which for some odd reason the SC locations did not (ground turkey is *not* the same thing). My only issue here (as with all locations) is that the chips were so fragile you couldn't really dip with them.

There was also a location a bit further up A1A towards Yulee FL, which also seems to have vanished in the same time-frame as this one. My guess is they were the same franchaise, which according to some google reviews was new ownership after the initial pandemic closure.

I have put 1519 for the street address here as both google & yelp agree on it and it is on the front door. However the actual number painted on the glass on the west side is 1515 for some reason, as you can see.