Publix #177 - Jacksonville, FL (Deerwood Village)

Publix #177 / Future Publix #1841

9964 Old Baymeadows Road, Jacksonville, FL - Deerwood Village Shopping Center

Today's post is a presentation of Duval County retail

***For Additional Coverage of this store, be sure to check out the companion tour of this store on The Sing Oil Blog (as well as my tour of a nearby former Sing station too)***

     After the Sing Oil Blogger reached out to me to write about the Jacksonville #4 Sing Oil station I photographed for him a few years back, he wasn't sure what to write about for the companion "More than Convenient" part of the post. After some contemplation, he decided to write about the nearby Publix #177, which closed last year, as that station's companion piece. In addition to visiting the Jacksonville #4 station, I had also visited Publix #177 a few years back, leaving us with two sets of photos showcasing that store. After originally intending to combine these photos into the More than Convenient part of his post, we both ended up not having the time to sit and compare photos to create a merged feature, so here we are today with two tours of Publix #177 for the price of one! I think it will be interesting, as usual in these instances, so see our different takes on this store. As an older location from the 1970's, Publix #177 had its share of quirks, so it shouldn't be too daunting reading about this store twice in one day!

     To briefly recap the history of this store, Publix #177 opened on August 14, 1974 as part of the Deerwood Village Shopping Center on Jacksonville's Southside. Deerwood Village was designed as an outdoor mini-mall, with Publix and Eckerd Drugs serving as its anchors. In the 1980's a Winn-Dixie would be built on the parcel immediately to the west of Deerwood Village, giving the impression this center was anchored by the two Floridian supermarket rivals. The 1980's were an interesting time for retail at the intersection of Baymeadows Road and Southside Boulevard, as in addition to Deerwood Village, another mini-mall, the upscale Grand Boulevard Mall, was constructed across the street. Unlike Deerwood Village though, Grand Boulevard Mall never took off and failed after a rather short run as a retail operation. The Jaxon has a really great article about the history of Deerwood Village and Grand Boulevard Mall if you want to learn more about these two centers.

     Publix expanded this location in the early 1990's, building a small addition on the east side of the building to house modernized service departments. That addition triggered some rearranging inside the rest of the store, creating the floorplan it kept until it closed for a rebuild on October 5, 2024. The rebuild will bring a typical modern 45M Publix to this side, the extra space for the new store coming from the closure of the CVS (former Eckerd) next door.

     Sadly, the closure and rebuild of Publix #177 brought about the end to yet another one of the famous Pati Mills tile murals, which are becoming scarcer and scarcer by the year. This store's mural featured a village scene with a large church and some mountains in the background, giving off a European village feel. I'm not sure if there was supposed to be a connection between the picture and this part of Jacksonville (nothing is jumping out at me in the picture that indicates there is a connection - there certainly aren't mountains in Jacksonville!) but it's a nice picture nonetheless - too bad it may have gone down with the store.

     Entering the vestibule, it's pretty clear it was added on when the store expanded. How can you tell? This is how:

     Yes, the original 1970's concave entryway was left behind completely in-tact! Most times when Publix would add these vestibules during remodels in the late 1980's and early 1990's, the original concave doors and windows would be removed to allow for a large opening for shoppers to pass through. Here, Publix just boxed the original entryway inside!

     Publix #177 was one of the last stores in the chain to retain the original 1970's entryway in any form, even though it was boxed into a new vestibule. Following the closure of this store, Publix #167 in Miramar is the last store in the chain to feature the 1970's entryway design, with #167 having the added bonus of never having a new vestibule tacked onto the front like we saw here.

     Although the doors were upgraded through the years, it was still nice to see that distinctively 1970's design live on until 2024 in this store. The photo above looks back at the vestibule from inside the store, as seen from the service desk.

     Speaking of the service desk - here it is! Located in the front right corner of the building, the service desk has always been in this corner, however, it was originally located on the side wall next to the bathroom, arranged like this. When the store was expanded, the service desk moved around the corner to the front wall, however, the restrooms remained in the same location.

     From this slightly different angle, we can see the restroom sign directing patrons into the corner. With the service desk moving to the front wall, the new arrangement makes the restrooms a bit harder to spot tucked away like such. Also to note, it appears when the service desk was moved, the manager's office that was behind it was not, as we can still see the office door on the side wall to the left of the restrooms.

     As typical for an older Publix store, aisle 1 starts off with the dairy department running along the right side wall.

     Beer typically accompanies dairy in aisle 1, however, this store chose to put some less potent beverages (aka juices) opposite dairy, with a little bit of dairy overflow at the end of the aisle following the juices.

     Leaving aisle 1, the back wall becomes home to the meat coolers. The service meat and seafood counter can be seen off in the distance, closer to produce.

     Diving back into the grocery aisles, we get another dose of the classic 1970's striped terrazzo.

     The original 1970's portion of the store had all of its terrazzo exposed and preserved. However, once we cross over into the addition, the flooring will switch over to a plain white terrazzo (and I was surprised to see Publix sprang for real terrazzo in the addition, as most Publix additions usually use vinyl tiles).

     Entering aisle 3 we find the ceiling height transition, another classic Publix staple.

     The terrazzo striping reverses once we get to aisle 6. Unfortunately, the shelving between aisles 6 and 7 obscures the transition, so this view from the back aisle is the best we're going to get of the "V" shape the change in direction makes.

     If you look really close at the brown-painted transition where the ceiling changes height, you can make out some of the original wood detailing from the original 1970's decor. Wood paneling, avocado green, and mustard yellow - you don't get much more 1970's than that!

     Thinking about it, Classy Market 3.0/Sienna's color scheme does evoke a little bit of the 1970's ambience with its use of browns (emulating the color of the wood paneling) and dark greens, similar to we saw at that linked photo. Coincidence I'm sure, as I don't think 1970's retro was in style when Classy Market 3.0/Sienna was dreamed up in the early 2010's!

     Still, I find it interesting how the original 1970's trim on the ceiling transition survived all the way until 2024, as it's not often you find remnants of Publix's 1970's decor in a store that stayed in business until the early 2020's.

     Another original feature from the 1970's are those large vents placed around the ceiling transition. A bit more subtle than Winn-Dixie's Kmart-esque vents from the same era, but still large enough to catch a rogue balloon.

     Aisle 11 was the last aisle in the original part of the building, with this quick glimpse into the addition and the grand aisle before we take a moment to look at the wine alcove:

     Wine was located between the check lanes and the deli, filling up the open space between those two departments.

     It's not unusual to see Publix place wine in this area in older stores, as this area off to the side of the check lanes tends of be a dead space, especially in stores like this one that lacked a pharmacy (which would have been located here had there been one added in the 1990's). What was unusual though is seeing that 1970's entryway in-tact in the background!

     Where there is wine, beer typically isn't too far behind. Leaving the wine department, we find the beer here in aisle 11, with the other half of this aisle being home to the start of frozen foods.

     Getting to the left side of the building, we finally find the meat and seafood counter on the back wall.

     The meat and seafood service counter is located next to produce, with this scene not looking too different from what you'd find in the average older Publix store.

     Entering aisle 12 - the king of all grocery aisles - we officially find ourselves in the addition space as we look down the remainder of the store's frozen foods.

     In many expanded Publix stores, the columns that mark the transition from the original building into the addition tend to fall in unfortunate places, usually making one of the grocery aisles feel more cramped. In here, the alignment of the columns worked out perfectly, falling in between the coolers that separate aisles 11 and 12, not only keeping the aisles clear of obstruction, but also blending in with the pipe covers from the coolers too!

     Leaving frozen foods, we enter the grand aisle. Stepping into the front left corner of the building, the first department we encounter was the deli. The deli signage itself was off to my right (we'll see it in the next photo), with the hot foods counter located in the corner itself.

     Turning the camera a little more to the right, we find the deli signage over the main service counter with the cold cuts. The Pub Sub station was located between the hot foods counter we saw before and the cold cuts, partially visible in this next photo:

     Only one person waiting at the Pub Sub counter - I caught this department at the right time!

     Next to the deli was the bakery, located center along the left side wall.

     The layout we see here was pretty common when Publix expanded older stores in the late 1980's and early 1990's, with the grand aisle shifting into the addition with this same floorplan of deli in the front left, followed by the bakery and then floral (which we'll see next).

     Following floral (which is a bit obscured by those balloons) is produce. Produce would have originally been located in the back left corner like this, just shifting over into the addition from where it originally was (which would have been roughly where the meat and seafood service counter was).

     Before we get to produce, here's a less balloon-obscured vantage point of the floral department - I think this photo turned out quite well actually.

     Overall, this store's produce department was set up in typical fashion for a store of this age, with the typical Classy Market 3.0/Sienna artichoke gracing the wall in the corner.

     The produce sign was located over the service counter, overlooking some well-merchandised fruits and veggies (included some carefully stacked aloe leaves - hopefully no one grabs the wrong one of those and knocks them all over!).

     Publix gave this store a really nice remodel in the mid-2010's, as it was a rather deluxe version of Classy Market 3.0/Sienna this store received. This store really didn't feel 50 years old considering the work it got a decade or so prior to its demise.

     Seeing where the terrazzo stripes pick up again by meat & seafood, that would be where produce was prior to the expansion.

     From produce, here's a nice overview of the grand aisle again, as seen from the back of the store.

     The columns we see in the grand aisle designate the original left wall of this building, while the columns over in frozen foods mark the old wall separating Publix's original salesfloor from the backroom space. Overall, this store's addition wasn't very large (roughly 10,000 square feet or so), as Publix only had a small sliver of parking lot to expand into at the time. Even with taking over the former CVS space next door, the replacement store won't be very large either, with Publix opting for a 45M here instead of the modern default 48M prototype. Even though the 45M was Publix's default design until the 48M made its debut in 2019, the 45M these days is mostly reserved for small towns and unusual cases like this where space is a bit tight.

     Now that we've seen almost everything, we return to the front end for a few final interior photos of that part of the store.

     This store had 8 check lanes total - 3 express lanes and 5 regular ones. The express lane closest to me was doubled, with another small counter in front of it containing another lane (which didn't make it into the photo).

     Before leaving, here's one final look at the original vestibule design before we head back outside:

     As I mentioned prior, the new Publix will be expanding into the space once occupied by the CVS next door, the front of which is visible here from the front sidewalk.

     The CVS (a former Eckerd) closed outright shortly before Publix began its rebuild. Even though the CVS was not replaced nearby, the new Publix will have a pharmacy counter to make up for the pharmacy lost in CVS's closure (and most likely, the presence of this CVS is why Publix never bothered to add a pharmacy to their store next door).

     Farewell Publix #177...you had a good run! After 14 months of rebuilding, the new Publix #1841 will be opening on December 11, 2025, bringing Deerwood Village's second supermarket back online (although I'm sure Rowe's at the other end of the strip was enjoying Publix's closure!).

     We'll wrap up today's post with a close-up of Publix's classic trapezoidal road sign, a design that was mostly discontinued by the late 1980's and pretty rare to find in the wild today. I'm not sure if this sign will survive the rebuild or be replaced, but it would be a fun relic if Publix did leave it behind! If so, at least one piece of old #177 would live to see another day!

     Anyway, that's all I have to say about this store, and if you want to read more, you can check out The Sing Oil Blogger's interpretation of this place over on his blog here, as well as my tour of the former Sing Oil station at Phillips Highway and Shad Road. As for myself, be sure to come back to MFR next week for another installment of my Temple Terrace series, and be sure to head back over to AFB on December 6th for a tour of a really fun store!

Plenty more to come soon, so until the next post,

AFB