The New Publix on Lake Oconee Parkway Opens Nov. 4, and the Intersection Around It Is Still Changing

On Wednesday, November 4, Publix opens Store #2118 at 105 Lake Country Blvd. in Eatonton. The store is 50,325 square feet, includes a pharmacy and goes by the name Town Center at Lake Oconee, according to Publix's official new-store list. It sits on the east side of Lake Oconee Parkway, directly across SR 44 from the Harmony Crossing plaza.

The opening makes one intersection on the Putnam side of the parkway the main stop for weekly errands, and the road layout there has more changes planned. A traffic signal came first. A roundabout is supposed to replace it once the SR 44 widening is finished. In between, the store is only the first building in a much larger plan.

What Opens on November 4

The new store is in Putnam County. Its Publix location page still says "Opening Soon" for the Lake Country Blvd. address. Lake Oconee News reported that the chain held a walk-in hiring event for the new store on Sept. 11 and 12 at its existing Lake Oconee Village location.

That existing store is Publix #853 at 6350 Lake Oconee Pkwy., Suite 106, in Greensboro, which is in Greene County. As of this week, its location page lists a regular schedule and gives no closing date. Publix has made no public statement that the new store replaces it. For now, the parkway has a Greene County Publix and, starting November 4, a Putnam County Publix, with the county line between them.

Publix has not posted hours for Store #2118 yet. Check the store's page before your first trip, especially if you need the pharmacy.

The First Building in a 25-Year Plan

The Publix anchors Lake Country Village, a mixed-use development of nearly 140 acres built by Shaifer Partners, a family-owned Georgia company. According to Lake Oconee News coverage of the June 26, 2025 groundbreaking, the company started buying land for the project in 1997 and described the Publix job as the start of the first phase.

At that ceremony, Shaifer Partners President Adam Shaifer told the crowd how long it had taken.

"Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for Shaifer Partners, one that has been in the making for 25 years. We were intentional when we began assembling the 140 acres you see all around you today."

According to the same report, the company plans to use some of the commercial space for a hotel and conference center, along with retail space and single-family and multifamily homes. None of those has an announced delivery date. No other tenant has been named publicly either. On November 4, the grocery store opens and the rest of the 140 acres stays on the drawing board.

Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones also spoke at the groundbreaking, and his remarks point to the next part of this story. As Lake Oconee News quoted him, "State Route 44 has probably been the biggest hurdle, but it's also a prime example of what happens when county, state, and private partners come together."

One Intersection, Three Layouts

The road outside the store had already changed before the store opened. Lake Oconee News reported in September that the Georgia Department of Transportation was adding a traffic signal where the Publix entrance on the east side of SR 44 meets the Harmony Crossing plaza on the west. A sign near Ace Hardware had announced it, and its start was pushed back to Sept. 22 so permanent striping could go in first.

Will Volk, GDOT's District 2 communications officer, explained the delay. The paper reported that a GDOT traffic study found SR 44 and the side roads both had enough traffic to justify a signal. Without one, drivers coming out of Harmony Crossing and the new shopping center would have faced long waits.

The signal is only temporary. Here is the sequence that the September report and GDOT's notices describe.

1. First: a signal at the Publix and Harmony Crossing entrances, which was scheduled to go live Sept. 22.
2. During construction: Phases 1 and 2 of the SR 44 widening are underway.
3. May 2027: contractors are now set to bid on Phase 3, which will widen SR 44 from Harmony Rd. and Phoenix Rd. to Carey Station Rd. GDOT moved the bid date back to allow more time to buy right of way. The previous deadline for property owners to sign right-of-way agreements was Sept. 1.
4. When the widening is finished: a roundabout replaces the signal.

So the grocery trip will go through a signal for the store's first months, then a work zone, and later a roundabout. The Publix and the intersection outside it will both be new at about the same time, and a holiday-season opening will bring the most traffic the signal has seen so far.

What Sits Across the Signal

The signal matters because the businesses on both sides now give people more reasons to stop. Harmony Crossing, on the west side of the light, is already home to the Lake Oconee Farmers Market at Harmony Park. Oconee Bagel Co. started selling there in May 2026 and spent the season at the Saturday market, as Lake Oconee Life's October roundup noted.

Several businesses with Eatonton addresses along this part of the parkway opened in the months before the Publix.

Bryan and Amy Pulliam own Tee Time 44, and Brett and Julie Riccardi run its food and beverage side. Sources list its street number differently, so search by name when you put it into a map app. Kathi and Daryl Chandler opened Harmony Holistic. Tonya Miller owns Brilliance by Design, and Pablo and Dana Santamaria own InMotion Wellness Studio.

None of these businesses opened because of the Publix, and none depends on it. Together, though, they make this stretch of SR 44 a place where one stop can cover more than one errand: groceries and a prescription on the east side, then a simulator round, a sauna session or a home-goods stop nearby. Starting November 4, the light connects a supermarket to everything across the road.

Planning the First Few Weeks

For the opening stretch, the practical points come from what is already confirmed:

• Date: Publix lists November 4, 2026.
• Address: 105 Lake Country Blvd., Eatonton. The store is in Putnam County, across SR 44 from Harmony Crossing.
• Pharmacy: included in the new store.
• Lake Oconee Village store: Store #853 in Greensboro still lists its regular schedule.
• Access: use the signal at the Publix and Harmony Crossing entrances, and expect widening work on SR 44 to continue nearby.

Publix still has to post hours, and Shaifer Partners still has to name the hotel, the conference center and the next tenants. The road plan has dates attached. Phase 3 bidding is set for May 2027, and the roundabout is set for when the widening is finished.

At Luxury Lake Oconee Real Estate Group, we follow projects like Lake Country Village and the SR 44 widening closely because they shape daily routines on each side of the parkway. If you'd like to talk through how the new town center and the road work affect your part of the lake, contact us. We're glad to share what we know.