When Bassam Issa bought more than 53 acres at the southwest corner of East Brainerd and Ooltewah Ringgold roads in 2014, the Chattanooga developer said he knew the site would be ideal for a supermarket like Publix.
“This is the fastest growing part of Hamilton County, with more upper-income households and fewer retail options,” Issa, the founder of the ANT Group, said in a telephone interview Friday. “There are a lot of rooftops in this area, and this site is within 2 miles of five different schools that collectively have more than 4,500 students.”
It took Issa years of pitching the property to Publix to convince the grocery chain to locate on the site, which is less than 3 miles from another Publix store at Hurricane Creek in East Brained and right across the street from a Food City superstore.
But last Saturday, after Issa successfully convinced Publix two years ago to build on his property, the grocery chain opened a 48,000-square-foot grocery store to anchor The Enclave shopping center.
The new Publix is the ninth Publix grocery outlet in the Chattanooga market and comes nearly 14 years after Publix entered the market with its first supermarket in Ooltewah at Snow Hill and Mountain View roads. The new Publix includes a pharmacy, bakery and deli serving both packaged and takeout meals.