Queens Harbour's Grocery Run Is Being Redrawn Along Atlantic Boulevard

The Atlantic Boulevard stretch between the Intracoastal and Kernan Boulevard is getting a new set of grocery stores, and the biggest change is at its western end. Harris Teeter is building a 61,204-square-foot supermarket at Atlantic North, at Atlantic and Kernan. It is the one new Florida store Kroger kept after walking away from plans for up to 80 more in the state. Closer to Queens Harbour, a former Winn-Dixie at Girvin Road was converted into an Aldi with a July 2 opening date, and a former Wendy's lot is permitted for a liquor store. Publix Harbour Place is staying where it is.

By spring 2027, the stores along this drive will range from a converted 21,976-square-foot discount grocer near Girvin to a full-size Harris Teeter at Kernan nearly three times that size, with its own fuel center across the boulevard.

The Corridor, Store by Store

Going west from the Intracoastal, here is how the grocery and grocery-adjacent stops on Atlantic Boulevard stand at the end of October 2026.

Going by street numbers, Publix Harbour Place is the farthest east of the group, so it's the closest to the Intracoastal. Everything else on the list sits west of it, and the largest new store is at the far end of the drive.

The Girvin End Gets Smaller and More Specialized

The changes nearest Queens Harbour come from two older buildings getting new uses.

At Girvin Plaza, the city issued a permit on Dec. 10, 2025, to renovate 21,976 square feet of the closed Winn-Dixie at 12777 Atlantic Blvd. into an Aldi, at a renovation cost of $810,000, according to the Jax Daily Record. This conversion is part of a larger handoff. Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers sold 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets across five states to Aldi in March 2024. In February 2026, Aldi said the Girvin store was one of three Jacksonville conversions expected to open by summer. In June, both Action News Jax and the Jax Daily Record reported July 2 as the store's opening date.

The building stays the same, while the conversion puts a smaller-format discount grocer where a traditional supermarket used to be.

A few doors east, the closed Wendy's at 12911 Atlantic Blvd. got a demolition permit in November 2025. The city had already issued a building permit on Nov. 3 for a 7,446-square-foot Shores Fine Wine & Spirits with a drive-thru on the same site. The Jax Daily Record's permit report gave no opening date.

Taken together, the Girvin end is becoming a stop for quick, specific errands. Publix still covers the full weekly shop at Harbour Place, open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Aldi brings a discount option, and Shores will add a drive-thru wine and spirits store.

The Kernan End Gets the Corridor's New Anchor

The big new grocery store is going up farther west, at Atlantic North on the northwest corner of Atlantic and Kernan boulevards. Harris Teeter announced on Nov. 10, 2025, that it would lease a site at 11901 Atlantic Blvd. from Sleiman Enterprises and planned to hire 100 to 200 employees. The city issued a site-clearing permit on Feb. 12, 2026, and a construction permit on March 13 for the 61,204-square-foot store.

This store also brings the brand back. According to the Jax Daily Record, it will be Harris Teeter's first new store in Jacksonville since its two local stores closed in 2004 and 2006, before Kroger bought the chain in 2014. Until now, Harris Teeter's only Florida store has been a legacy location in Fernandina Beach.

For a while this summer, the store's future seemed uncertain. On July 13, News4JAX republished a Tampa Bay Business Journal report that Kroger had dropped plans for up to 80 Harris Teeter stores across Florida. Those plans included at least five 65,000-square-foot, high-end stores. Earlier in the year, Kroger had also ended its delivery service in Jacksonville and closed its automated fulfillment centers.

Harris Teeter's statement to the outlet named the Kernan store directly: "The only site Harris Teeter has announced in Florida is the Atlantic North Harris Teeter in Jacksonville," the company said, adding that it was "looking forward to opening Atlantic North Harris Teeter in Jacksonville in early 2027." The Jax Daily Record reported the same day that Sleiman was moving ahead with construction. By Sept. 1, the Daily Record was describing the opening as spring 2027.

The Kernan store is no longer one location in a statewide rollout. For now, it is Harris Teeter's whole Jacksonville plan, and it sits at the end of Queens Harbour's own stretch of Atlantic.

What Comes With the Store

Atlantic North is adding more than a supermarket. Based on permits and site plans filed through September 2026, the project includes:

• A fuel center at 11506 Atlantic Blvd., on a 1-acre site across Atlantic from the shopping center. Plans show five multiple-pump dispensers, a 240-square-foot kiosk with an overhead canopy, and two underground storage tanks, at an estimated cost of $2 million. The city issued a horizontal development permit on Sept. 1, 2026, and was still reviewing construction plans, with no contractor identified.
• A pharmacy with a drive-thru window inside the grocery store, part of the original November 2025 announcement.
• A Harris Teeter liquor store, shown on the Atlantic North site plan next to the grocery.
• A 4,700-square-foot shell building, labeled Unit 700, that fills the gap between the Harris Teeter grocery and liquor stores and LA Fitness. Site-clearing and building permits were issued June 2, 2026, at a combined project cost of $1.73 million. Sleiman Enterprises split the space into three units, and no tenants have been named.

That makes Atlantic North a place where groceries, prescriptions, gas and wine can all be handled in one trip. Shores and Aldi offer pieces of that closer to home at Girvin.

What's Settled and What Isn't

For anyone planning around these stores this winter, the dates range from firm to still open:

1. Publix Harbour Place is open, with posted hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
2. Aldi at Girvin Plaza was scheduled to open July 2, 2026.
3. Harris Teeter at Atlantic North is expected in spring 2027. The company's July statement said early 2027.
4. The Harris Teeter fuel center has a site development permit, but construction plans were still under review as of Sept. 1, 2026.
5. Shores Fine Wine & Spirits has a building permit dated Nov. 3, 2025. The permit report gave no opening date.
6. Unit 700 at Atlantic North has permits for three spaces and no named tenants.

Driving to Kernan After Dark This Fall

Getting to the new anchor at night takes some planning right now. The Florida Department of Transportation's district traffic report for Oct. 17 to 23, 2026, listed nighttime lane closures on Atlantic Boulevard between Kernan Boulevard and Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway/Mayport Road. The closures ran Sunday through Thursday from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. That stretch covers the whole drive from Queens Harbour to Atlantic North. FDOT updates the schedule weekly and notes that closures can change with the weather. The current week's list is posted at nflroads.com.

By the time Harris Teeter opens, a Queens Harbour resident's main grocery options will run from Publix Harbour Place near the Intracoastal, past Aldi at Girvin, to Harris Teeter at Kernan.

Changes like a new anchor store at Kernan affect how homes along this stretch of Atlantic Boulevard are valued, and I follow them closely for the Queens Harbour homeowners I work with. If you would like to know how your home compares as Atlantic North fills in, Julie Little Brewer would be glad to help. Request Your Complimentary Home Valuation.