Publix Super Markets Inc. will unwrap its new Statesboro store just in time for a rush of Christmas grocery shopping, posting Dec. 14 on the corporate website as the opening date.

The 48,387-square-foot supermarket with a pharmacy will be the flagship of the Eagles Corner Shopping Center, still under development, at the corner of Tormenta Way and Old Register Road within sight of Veterans Memorial Parkway.

Publix began hiring in September for the new Statesboro location, store #1733, expected to employ 150 to 200 people.

The design of the store, revealed by company officials at the May 2021 groundbreaking, is relatively new type for Publix, with a mezzanine inside and balcony opening to the outside.

In addition to Publix, the 66,000-square-foot Eagles Corner Shopping Center, developed by Watkins Real Estate Group, will include about 18,000 square feet of space to be occupied by other businesses. Three outparcels each measuring an acre or more were also available. But not all of the supermarket tenants and outlying businesses will be opening with the Publix.

As previously reported, a Huey Magoo’s Chicken Tenders restaurant and Tidal Wave Auto Spa’s second Statesboro location are shown on Watkins’ online site map as eventually occupying two of the corner outparcels.

The businesses announced to claim smaller spaces within the shopping center are the Grand Nail Lounge, Orangetheory Fitness, Tropical Smoothie, Great Clips, Lendmark Financial and Stella Boutique. Three spaces within the center are still marked “available” on the site map, and the third outparcel is marked “under contract,” but the business planning to go there has not been identified.

Statesboro City Council approved a beer and wine license for Publix on Nov. 15, and an occupational tax certificate, also known as a business license, was issued for the store two weeks earlier.