Publix Arrives in Carolina Shores. The Bigger Change Is the Intersection Beside It.

The Publix at Commons at Carolina Shores was scheduled to open Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 7 a.m. Over the next few months it will be joined by a row of restaurant and bank outparcels and then a Walmart Supercenter across U.S. 17. All of it is coming to one stretch of highway in stages. Each piece runs on its own timeline, and the piece that affects the most local trips is the reworked junction of U.S. 17, Calabash Road and Country Club Road, not any one store.

The grocery opening is the easy part to plan around. The schedule for the rest of the corridor matters more.

The Grocery Opening Is Step One

The new store's address is 9770 Ocean Hwy W., Calabash, and Publix's location page lists a pharmacy with a drive-through. WECT reported that the store covers 46,791 square feet and will employ about 140 people. In the company's announcement, quoted by WECT, Publix media relations manager Jared Glover said:

"We're excited to welcome customers to our new Calabash Publix. Our associates are dedicated to providing the exceptional service Publix is known for, and we look forward to serving this community for years to come."

Where the store sits explains most of what follows. StarNews placed it next to the CVS and directly across U.S. 17 from the Carolina Commons shopping center, which StarNews said would soon have competition across the street. So two shopping centers now face each other across the highway, with a CVS pharmacy counter beside the new grocery store.

The town's approved site plan names Halvorsen Development Corp. of Boca Raton, Florida, as the developer and puts the whole site at 20.31 acres. The grocery store takes up a small share of that acreage. The rest is the reason the traffic work exists.

The Intersection Carries the Real Change

U.S. 17 meets Calabash Road on one side and Country Club Road on the other, and that junction was already the hinge between Carolina Shores, Calabash and the beach roads. StarNews noted in March 2025 that traffic patterns there would change to handle cars entering and leaving the new stores.

Here is what the reported plan includes:

• Added travel lanes on U.S. 17 and Calabash Road, according to the Brunswick Beacon
• New U-turns and dedicated entry lanes into the shopping center, from the same Beacon report
• Dedicated left- and right-turn lanes on both Country Club Road and Calabash Road where they meet U.S. 17, required when the town approved the Publix site plan

The same site-approval coverage said the project would not add a new traffic light. That decision shapes daily driving more than anything inside the store. More cars will be moving through this junction, and the plan handles them with more lanes and U-turn movements rather than a new signal. A left into the plaza and a left back out can turn into a different maneuver from the one regulars are used to.

The timing has been tight. In the town's July 13, 2026 meeting packet, Mayor Conte reported that the developer's contractor expected the U.S. 17 turn-lane work to be finished by September 3. Town administrative reports and agendas on the Town of Carolina Shores website are where updates on the roadway work turn up.

The Outparcels Run on Their Own Clock

The Publix opening date was announced weeks ahead. The smaller pads around it are less settled. The Brunswick Beacon reported that shop spaces were expected to be handed over to tenants in September, with many tenant openings anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2026 or early 2027. No individual tenant has announced an opening date, and published tenant lists also differ a little from outlet to outlet:

The Myrtle Beach Sun News list came from a retail site map. The Beacon's came from confirmed tenants. That explains why River Oaks Pizzeria shows up on one list and Chase on the other.

Cutty's Pizza is the clearest case of a business moving in from somewhere else. It is relocating from 1442 U.S. 17 in Little River, South Carolina, to 9810 Ocean Highway in the new center. In March, the Sun News reported the move would happen by the end of the year. WMBF reported that the owners expected to take possession in October and were aiming for a full opening by early 2027, and that the Little River shop would keep serving customers until then.

Put together, the plaza will feel partly finished for a while. The grocery store and CVS anchor it first, and the coffee, breakfast, sandwich and pizza stops come online one at a time. Each one adds its own drive-through or parking turnover to the same entry lanes.

Walmart Lands Across the Highway, Outside Town Limits

The second big opening is on the other side of U.S. 17. The Walmart Supercenter is going up on the southbound side, facing the highway, across from Goodwill and the Novant Health offices on Emerson Bay Road. The Brunswick Beacon reported that the site is in Carolina Shores' extraterritorial jurisdiction rather than inside town limits, and that the approved project is a store of roughly 171,000 square feet on 27 acres.

That store is more than three and a half times the size of the Publix. The approved plan also covers:

• A 10-bay fuel station
• A drive-through pharmacy
• 690 parking spaces
• Three vehicle entrances
• Five more commercial lots, with no tenants named yet

When the plan went through review in 2024, the Beacon reported that NCDOT would look at traffic improvements for the Walmart site and might require a signal. No final decision on that has been made public, and it is the next road detail on this stretch to watch.

WMBF reported in March that construction had started on both the Walmart and the Publix. In late August, StarNews described the two stores as in the final stages of construction and said residents could expect to shop at both before the end of the year. Walmart has not announced an opening day.

If Walmart opens on that schedule, this short stretch of U.S. 17 will have Carolina Commons on one side, Publix across the road from it, and a Walmart Supercenter, plus three pharmacy counters, two of them with drive-throughs. Those trips will come together where Calabash Road and Country Club Road cross the highway.

How the Next Few Months Line Up

1. October 28, 2026. Publix's scheduled opening at 7 a.m. at 9770 Ocean Hwy W.
2. Fourth quarter 2026 into early 2027. Outparcel tenants at Commons at Carolina Shores open one by one, following the Beacon's reported window.
3. By year-end 2026, per StarNews. Walmart Supercenter opens across U.S. 17, with its fuel bays and drive-through pharmacy.
4. End of 2026 to early 2027. Cutty's Pizza finishes its move from Little River to 9810 Ocean Highway.

Publix's location page lists the store as 2029, Commons at Carolina Shores, and that page is the place to check store and pharmacy hours as they're posted.

A busier corridor along U.S. 17 changes more than the drive to the grocery store. Over time it also changes how nearby streets feel day to day and how listings in Carolina Shores and Calabash describe convenience. Our team watches openings like these closely because they come up in conversations with buyers and sellers across the area. If you'd like to know how the new Commons at Carolina Shores and the upcoming Walmart fit into your own plans, Hank Troscianiec & Associates is happy to talk it through. Schedule a Free Consultation and we'll go over the U.S. 17 corridor with you.