After the city of Statesboro announced in May that a national home furnishings retailer would be coming to town in 2025, it was confirmed last week that HomeGoods will open a store in the former Kmart building in the Southern Square Shopping Center on Northside Drive.
According to permitting requests from the city of Statesboro, the national home furnishing retailer is in the midst of renovations and will open their popular store in the coming months. In May, the city said a store would open before the end of 2025, but no date has been confirmed.
Work on the front façade of the building has been going on for a few weeks.
HomeGoods offers furniture, art and art supplies, cooking products and hundreds of other home accessories. The Statesboro store would be the 35th to open in Georgia. HomeGoods has stores in Pooler and Savannah. Massachusetts-based TJX owns HomeGoods, which is a sister company of T.J. Maxx. The T.J. Maxx store in Statesboro Crossing Shopping Center opened in 2007.
According to the May release from the city, the project came about as a result of a partnership launched in January 2023, when the city of Statesboro contracted a small business recruitment service through Georgia Southern University's Business Innovation Group. Through this collaboration, Statesboro gained a dedicated small business recruiter, Alan Gross, who has been actively attending trade shows and working to attract small to medium-sized businesses to the area.
Gross, who city officials described as "instrumental in bringing the new retailer to Statesboro," is excited about the impact the deal will have on the city.
Kmart entered the Statesboro market in 1976 with the construction of a new store on Fair Road in the current Food World grocery store location across from the Georgia Southern campus. It moved to its location on Northside Drive in 1991 and closed in 2018.
In 2021, Planet Fitness renovated 22,000 square feet on the west end of the approximate 94,000 square feet that was the footprint of the Kmart store in the shopping center. Planet Fitness offers a variety of fitness, health and spa services.
City officials described Statesboro's growth as "remarkable in recent years."
According to the release, more than 190 new business licenses were issued in 2024, and as of February 2025, commercial development projects in Statesboro totaled more than $128 million in investments — a figure that continues to climb with new developments breaking ground each month.
The Southern Square center is owned by Hull Property Group, based out of Augusta. Hull also owns the Statesboro Mall, Gentilly Square and University Commons shopping centers in Statesboro.
Businesses and restaurants in Southern Square include Dunham's, Tractor Supply, Office Max, Seasons of Japan, The Rolling Monkey and Chicken Salad Chick.