Fall in Bulloch County means football, the Fair and relief from summer heat. In 2022, fall also will bring the opening of the long-awaited Publix Super Market.
On Tuesday, Publix posted on its Facebook page for the first time that it is accepting job applications for the Statesboro store in the Eagles Corner Shopping Center, located off Veterans Memorial Parkway (the Bypass) and Old Register Road on Tormenta Way.
The 48,000-square-foot Publix store is projected to create 150 to 200 jobs, including full-time, part-time and managerial positions. To apply online, go to apply.publix.jobs, register and submit an application for store #1733.
Also, according to the Publix website, hiring fairs are scheduled for Sept. 6 and Sept. 27 at the Publix in the Blue Moon Crossing Shopping Center, off Interstate-16, Exit 155, across from Costco.
In April, Publix officials said they had hoped the store would be ready to open in October, but Tuesday’s post indicated a November opening was more likely.
The Statesboro store will be a relatively new type for Publix, with a mezzanine inside and balcony extending outside. The front of the store will have stairwells and an elevator to take customers upstairs to a café area, which will offer WiFi, and a lunch area.
Publix is the heart of the planned 66,000-square-foot Eagles Corner Shopping Center. In addition to the grocery store, a diagram of the shopping center on the Watkins Real Estate Group website identifies spaces for six specific businesses, besides Publix, two spaces are under LOI (letter of intent) and two are listed as available.
The spaces already leased are:
- Great Clips – 1,190 square feet
- Grand Nail Lounge – 3,500 square feet
- Tropical Smoothie – 1,500 square feet
- Stella Boutique – 1,100 square feet
- Orangetheory Fitness – 2,800 square feet
The unnamed stores under letter of intent are 3,000 square feet and 1,505 square feet, respectively.
Also, three outparcels, each measuring between one and one and half acre, occupy the corners of the approximately 12.7-acre shopping center. Two are marked “under contract,” meaning to a specific buyer or lessee, and the third is marked “available.” Two of the three outparcels are likely to be restaurants.
A Publix supermarket previously operated in Statesboro for a few years in the late 1990s. Located in the University Commons shopping center on Northside Drive East, it closed more than 20 years ago.
Efforts to bring the supermarket chain back to Statesboro recurred, off and on again, for years. At least two other sites were seriously considered, before the Old Register site was finalized.