Mackensy Lunsford

mlunsford@citizen-times.com

On Friday, Publix made official a long-rumored Weaverville location, to be built in Weaverville Plaza on Interstate 26 and Weaver Boulevard.

The store, slated for a 2017 opening, will be approximately 49,000 square feet.

The new store is part of an expansion of the Florida-based grocery store chain into the Carolinas. The first North Carolina Publix opened in Charlotte in February, and 10 more stores are expected for that area.

Though the grocery store isn't defined by its organic and sustainable produce like Whole Foods stores, Publix has its own private-label meat, Greenwise, which has grass-fed, grain-finished, free-range and hormone-free Angus beef and lamb, and hormone-free, air-chilled chicken.

Forbes in 2013 reported that Publix is the most profitable grocery chain in the U.S., the seventh-largest private company in the U.S. with $27.5 billion in sales, and the largest employee-owned company in the nation. Publix now operates more than 1,000 stores.

A recent Consumer Reports survey of nearly 63,000 consumers ranked Publix highly in public perception. The sample group said that Publix is second only to Wegmans in freshness, cleanliness, and bakery quality.

But the grocery store is not without controversy.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a worker-based human rights organization advocating for social responsibility, picketed the opening of the first Publix in the Asheville area on Hendersonville road earlier this year.

The Coalition has campaigned against Publix for almost six years to join the Fair Food Program, which asks food retail stores to take responsibility for the way farm workers are treated and paid.

On the lighter side, Publix workers have started a Coworker.org campaign to ask for a tweak to a dress code-based facial-hair policy, which forbids any growth beyond a mustache. The campaign, Free the Beard, has more than 12,000 signatures.

For more information about Publix, visit www.publix.com.

New Asheville Publix open: A look at store offerings

Dozens line up as Publix opens in South Asheville