Downtown Statesboro has been undergoing some major changes throughout the past several years. Many of those changes include exterior facelifts to buildings, but they also include the addition of an assortment of businesses. 

One of the newest businesses, set to open next week, is Boro the Hatchet Axe Throwing. 

And while the business itself isn’t new, the location at 19 East Vine St. is new and owner BJ McKeller is inviting everyone to the grand opening on Wednesday, July 31. 

McKellar, 36, has been operating a mobile axe-throwing trailer to events in the area since December of 2022

“Boro The Hatchet All started because of one picture that my wife’s best friend sent to her,” McKeller said. “It was a picture of an axe- throwing trailer that had come to her place of business one day. The text said ‘Hey, I think BJ could make one of these.’”

After his wife Haley showed him the picture, the planning began. 

“I was like ‘Yeah, that’s pretty cool.’ I thought about it a bit more and I was like, ‘that could be a good business to do on the side.’ I did some more research and found the company that made my trailer and the rest is history.” 

McKeller, who is an officer with the Georgia Southern University Police Department, said the plan since the beginning was for McKellar to open a brick-and-mortar location after several years of traveling with the trailer, attending events in the coastal area and to build up a good reputation and spread the word. 

The Bulloch County area already is seeing growth due to incoming production plants and housing developments, and as always, the growth of Georgia Southern. McKellar saw that growth and wanted to get ahead of it. 

“(It) played a big part in making me hurry and make this a reality. My biggest fear was that if I don’t go ahead and do it now, somebody else will,” he said. 

The location on East Vine Street is surrounded by other locally owned businesses and the support amongst the owners is part of what made McKellar choose this location. 

“I have always enjoyed smaller cities with things to do in their downtown,” he said. “I started working with the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority and pitched my idea and from that moment, they, and everyone else I have spoken with downtown that are business owners have been absolutely amazing in helping me through this process. I knew that was the type of people I wanted to surround myself with. AJ Jetwani with Tandoor and Tap was a huge factor in my location, and shortly after I met Britt Hendrix with Boro Bagel Company and I just knew that’s where I wanted to be.”

It's this collaborative nature of business owners that he hopes to expand on in the future to possibly offer packages with some of the restaurants and bars downtown. 

In preparation for opening a physical location, McKellar has been having to spend quite a bit of time working in the location while also balancing his everyday job as a Georgia Southern police officer. 

“The transition from mobile to brick-and-mortar has been quite a change in pace. I have gone from having events every once in a while, to constantly being at the brick and mortar doing work.,” he said. “The days I have off from work are the days that have been spent trying to get this location opened.” 

He bragged on his wife, “It has not been easy for Haley, because there have been plenty of days where she has been at home with our little boy Maverick (4). I can’t thank her enough for being understanding and supporting me because she knows how much this means to my goals. I can get pretty lost in my work because I want everything to be perfect. There have been days when I’ve been working on the brick and mortar where I have just decided, all right, it’s time to just take a break and enjoy some family time.”

McKellar acknowledges that there have been many more hoops to jump through when it comes to a physical location than there was with his mobile business, but he’s excited to offer much more than just axe-throwing at the location

The Boro the Hatchet location will have pool tables, a dartboard and some arcade games for other entertainment. They will also have multiple TVs throughout the location. 

The current structure of the mobile trailer is just to throw axes at targets, but the physical location will have a variety of options when it comes to how to approach axe throwing. 

“Our main attraction, which is, of course the axe throwing, is nothing like anything in our area. We have real wood targets and real axes,” he said. “However, the targets you are throwing at are completely digital. They are projected onto the wood and we have at least 15 different games that you can choose from. It is much more interactive than standard axe-throwing venue.” 

The venue will have a cabin/lodge style theme that will be inviting and cozy for patrons to feel welcome and at home, McKeller said.

Long term, McKellar hopes to host leagues, possibly add on some more lanes for the axe-throwing, but his most important goal is more community-minded. He hopes to “just become a Statesboro staple of entertainment for our downtown and our community.”

You can find more information about the venue and its opening on social media and at their website, www.borothehatchet.com