South Greensboro still waits on promised Piggly Wiggly opening in 2026

At Freeman Mill Road and Florida Street, the Piggly Wiggly sign is finally up in Freeman Mill Square Shopping Center, a cart return sits outside and shelves are in place inside, but they are still bare. After years of delays, the project remains a symbol of something bigger than a grocery store, because south Greensboro has spent the wait driving farther for staples, fresh produce and other basics that should be closer to home.

The building last sold in 2019, and the opening has slid several times since then. A March 25, 2025 opening was once scheduled, then delayed. The North Carolina Department of Health approved a Plan Detail for the property on May 19, 2025, and the store later received its building permit on Dec. 9, 2025. By Dec. 24, 2025, the owners were still waiting on a corporate office opening team to set a date. Now, the owners are planning a June 2026 soft opening after getting the required state approvals.

That timeline explains why neighbors remain hopeful but cautious. The project has been in motion for about six years, long enough for skepticism to replace excitement in many households. Still, the store would give south Greensboro a full-service grocery option in an area long described as a food desert, with few grocery choices within miles of residential neighborhoods. For a community that has gone without nearby access to a store of this size, a Piggly Wiggly would mean fewer long trips for groceries and a more practical way to buy food week after week.

The investment was first pitched in 2020, when S&S Capital Inc. received an urban development grant and a city loan to build the store. At the time, the plan called for a 13,000-square-foot grocery with 22 full-time and part-time jobs and about $900,000 in renovation work to rebuild the front of the plaza. Sharon Hightower, who championed the project for District 1, helped push it as part of a broader effort to bring retail investment back to an under-served part of Greensboro.

For residents such as Gloria Rankin of Smith Homes on Florida Street and Robert Butler, the issue is not just convenience. Rankin said the store would especially help elderly neighbors who have trouble traveling for groceries, and that need remains at the center of the delay. If the opening finally happens in June, it will not solve south Greensboro’s food access problems on its own, but it would mark one of the clearest signs yet that basic neighborhood investment is finally reaching this corner of Guilford County.