Publix Opening Date Set for Elizabethtown: September 23

Key Takeaways

• Publix opens Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at the Shops at Pear Orchard, 1305 Pear Orchard Road (also reachable from 2300 Ring Road)
• Theology Skin Bar is the name behind the Pear Orchard facial bar, opening fall 2026 in a 2,500 square foot suite, with two suites still available in the development
• Fly2Fit's grand opening is Friday, September 11, 6 to 8 PM at 400 College Street Road; Nate tried the bungee workout himself
• Off The Clock opens Friday night above Social Food Hall at The Assembly, 110 South Main
• Liberty Tax and Rachelle Danielle Rose Decor are both moving to the same building on Ring Road with no opening date yet, and Kenny Smith Realty and Etown Paints have also left Mulberry Square, four tenants out of one shopping center

Summary

Nate Bryan opened Business Buzz with the question he says he gets asked more than anything else: when does Publix open? After more than a year of waiting, he has an answer. Publix opens Wednesday, September 23, at the Shops at Pear Orchard, and Nate walked through everything else filling in around it, from a new skin bar to a bungee fitness studio he tested in person.

It matters because it is a genuinely full week of business news, capped by a bigger story quietly forming at Mulberry Square, where four longtime tenants are now headed elsewhere.

Full Article

Nate led with the news the show has been fielding questions about for over a year. "Publix is opening September 23rd, Wednesday," he said, "basically five weeks from tomorrow." It sits at the Shops at Pear Orchard, reachable at either 1305 Pear Orchard Road or 2300 Ring Road depending on which entrance you use. The original timeline had pointed toward November, so an early September date is a genuine surprise. Publix anchors a building that also includes Firehouse Subs, a UPS Store, and Public Liquor, though Nate cautioned he does not yet know whether every business in that lineup opens on the same day.

Next door, a second building in the same development is filling in around names locals have been watching for months: HOTWORX, Beignets and Brew, a nail location, and Kilwins, the fudge and ice cream shop Nate called out as a real sign of the area's growth, since Kilwins tends to land in bigger cities or tourist towns. The newest addition to that building is Theology Skin Bar, the facial bar behind a name that had been circulating without a business attached to it. It opens fall 2026 in a 2,500 square foot suite, and two suites in the development, at 1,500 and up to 3,000 square feet, are still available for lease.

Nate had his own field report on Fly2Fit, the bungee fitness studio at 400 College Street Road, in the yellow building across from the Globe Brands headquarters. He went and did the workout himself. "First thing they do is weigh you," he said, for the belay system, and from there it was burpees, lunges, and more resistance than he expected out of a rig that looked, on video, like it barely got him off the ground. Fly2Fit's grand opening is Friday, September 11, from 6 to 8 PM, with a $10 introductory class, package pricing, and a $99 monthly membership rate that Nate said will not stay that low for long.

Off The Clock, the new bar going in above Social Food Hall at The Assembly, opens its doors to the public Friday. Nate has been following the buildout for weeks and described a swank upstairs space with a cigar bar and an outdoor area just off the entrance. "It's a lot bigger than it looks," he said, pointing people to the business's Facebook and Instagram pages for updates.

Two moves are reshaping a stretch near the Pavilion on Ring Road. Liberty Tax, currently on North Dixie, and Rachelle Danielle Rose Decor, formerly of Mulberry Square, are both relocating into the same building there. Neither has announced an opening date. And in a bigger shift, Kenny Smith Realty and Etown Paints have also left Mulberry Square, landing on Woodland near Panda, which puts four total tenants out of that one shopping center. Nate did not offer a theory on why. "So the question I'd ask is, what's going on at Mulberry Square?" is where he left it, framing it as something worth watching rather than something with a clean answer yet.

Underneath all of it is a trend Nate has tracked for years: Ring Road pulling business away from North Dixie. "I think Ring Road is like the last great expansion area until something else opens up," he said, pointing to easier traffic flow and more room to build as the draw.

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