close
close

Publix stores across much of Florida are closing early due to Hurricane Milton

Posted on by Kennedy
Publix stores across much of Florida are closing early due to Hurricane Milton

As Hurricane Milton approaches Central Florida, all Publix Super Markets Inc. locations in Polk County and nearly all in Milton's cone of uncertainty throughout Florida have modified hours, according to the Publix website.

Of 1,380 stores in eight states, the grocer reported that 495 had changed hours as of Tuesday morning.

The Bartow location will close at 5 p.m., customer service said. For the Lakeland Southgate Shopping Center, they reported the same opening hours, with a goal of reopening at 9 a.m. Thursday, depending on the storm's path.

They also said that if the store is closed, the pharmacy and liquor stores will also be closed.

How to find gas near you Florida residents fleeing Hurricane Milton face long lines at gas pumps

The Publix website shows that almost all Publix branches in the crisis area have changed opening hours.

To find store hours, residents can visit: https://www.publix.com/pages/publix-storm-basics/publix-store-status.

On the west side of the peninsula, the Publix store status map shows stores on the Gulf Coast from Marco Island to Homosassa with modified hours and expected store closings on Tuesday at 5 p.m., with stores reopening on Thursday at 5 p.m.

Shops along Florida's Atlantic coast closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday and reopened at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Two Sam's Club locations in Lakeland will be closed as of noon Tuesday, according to the company's website. Walmart stores in Polk remained open as of noon Tuesday, its website shows.

The Winn-Dixie at Lakeland Market Place on the North Socrum Loop will close Tuesday at 5 p.m., a customer service representative said. The store is expected to reopen at noon on Thursday, but this is still tentative.

Even the most serious hurricane preparedness can laugh when they hear that Waffle House is closed.

A playful and unofficial indicator of a hurricane's severity is the closure of the Waffle House, which typically remains open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

And it looks like Hurricane Milton will cause the Central Florida Waffle House to close.

“Our mission remains to keep our employees out of harm’s way,” Njeri Boss, vice president of food safety and public relations for Waffle House, said via email Tuesday. “Accordingly, we will preemptively close restaurants in the areas likely to be hardest hit, with the goal of reopening them as soon as it is safe to do so to serve the communities that have stood with us there over the years.”

“Sites in areas predicted to be in the path of Hurricane Milton and likely to suffer significant damage, or where mandatory evacuations have been ordered, are locations where preventive closures will occur for safety reasons,” he said. “We will follow local evacuation orders.”

Boss said the company will post any closures on the social media platform X. As of Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., all Central Florida locations in Polk County will be open. The company recorded closures in the Fort Myers and Tampa areas.

This story will be updated.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *