It’s a new year, so let’s talk new commercial construction. Building is scheduled to begin next week on a new Po Jo’s convenience store at the southeast corner of Highway 80 East and Burkhalter Road.

            Perry Sumner and his brother, Phil, will have three Po Jo’s stores once construction is completed on this unit. The Sumners bought the original Po Jo’s at the corner of I-16 and Highway 301 South three years ago. This past November, they added Rusty’s One Stop in Sylvania to their inventory.

            Perry Sumner said the convenience/gasoline outlet being constructed will be the first with the Po Jo’s logo and image throughout.

            “Our other two stores are branded – one is a Chevron and the other a BP,” he said. “This store will be unbranded and the only logo you will see is the Po Jo’s logo. It will be our flagship Po Jo’s for future development.”

            Sumner said the store will be 3,200 square feet featuring contemporary product offerings in a country store type of theme.

            “I am hesitant to use the word upscale, because the store is going to have a very comfortable style atmosphere,” he said. “But, we will have some very nice coffee and other types of products. There will be something there for everyone.”

            Sumner said the restaurant at the Highway 80 store will not be as extensive as the restaurant in the Highway 301 South store.

            “You can get everything from crab legs to a rib eye steak at the Po Jo’s on 301 South,” he said. “This restaurant will most likely have pizza and some type of buffet. It will be really good fast food to go – breakfast biscuits and the like.”

            Sumner is a Georgia Southern graduate who has worked for Stubbs Oil Company in Statesboro for the last eight years. He is now focusing full time on his convenience store business.

            “My brother and I have had a vision about expanding this business,” he said. “The time was right to make a move. Ultimately we would like to have 20 to 25 stores just like the one we are building within about a 50 mile radius of the Po Jo’s on 301 South.”

            Sumner said he expects construction to begin next week and hopes to be done by this coming July. In the meantime, Sumner said interior renovations of the Po Jo’s on 301 South have been completed and an exterior facelift of the facility is in the works.

            Until next week, I bid you au revoir.

            Got a scoop for Jan? Call her at (912) 489-9463 or e-mail her at jmoore@statesboroherald.net