Kyleigh Popwell got a birthday surprise as the Millbrook Publix opened.
The seven-year-old has known for a little while that her favorite rolls baked by her grandmother are not homemade, but are hard to find. But last Wednesday, Kyleigh was grinning from ear to ear as she found the orange bag of Rhodes rolls in the frozen food section.
PHOTOS: Publix grand opening in Millbrook
“They are probably one of the best bread companies around,” Kyleigh’s mother Keyshia Popwell said. “We love them.”
Kyleigh’s mother even thought the rolls were homemade and unavailable in any store.
“It has been going on for like 18 years,” Popwell said. “Five years ago she told me to go to the frozen section and look for the orange bag. They have some rise and bake. They are just yeast rolls. She lets hers get huge.”
Popwell found them in a store in Georgia and now the family and especially Kyleigh are pleased to find them in Millbrook.
“I love them and they love them,” Popwell said. “Now we can get them here.”
The mother and daughter were some of the first customers in the new Camp Grandview Plaza Publix in Millbrook. But the first customer was Millbrook Mayor Al Kelley and he apologized for breaking in line.
“I hope I didn’t make too many people mad about that,” Kelley said. “There was a lady who had been waiting a while. I had an arrangement made to make the first purchase. It will be framed in my office.”
While wearing a special green sport coat, Kelley held up a receipt and a package of Reese's Cups before he cut the ribbon to the new store with manager Daniel Sims.
“I bought it about 30 years ago in hopes of one day I would be able to wear it to a Publix grand opening in Millbrook,” Kelley said. “Today I got my dream come true.”
Kelley said it was about a four-year process to recruit and get Publix to Millbrook, and it wasn’t just him working to make it happen.
“Every time a problem came up, our group and (Publix) worked through it and made a beautiful facility here,” Kelley said.
City of Millbrook economic development director Ann Harper was one of the team members assisting in the Publix project. She also works to bring other projects to the city.
“It takes a long time, on average, three to four years for a significant tenant/retail project to happen,” Harper said. “Publix gives everyone another option in our city. It gives a boost in our quality of life. We are working on developing a community that has a great quality of life and have different choices and amenities.”
Harper said Publix just highlights the development along the Highway 14 corridor in Millbrook. Jiffy Lube and other retail developments are in various stages to go along with the 17 Springs project.
“The 14 corridor is taking off,” Harper said. “Three years from now it is going to look completely different.”
Seven-year-old Kyleigh will get to take advantage of all of those in the coming years. But this week she is most proud of the 12 frozen rolls in an orange bag she found on her birthday.
“I’m going to eat them all,” Kyleigh said.
