On Thursday, the highly anticipated HomeGoods opened in Statesboro. Just one week earlier, Dutch Bros Coffee opened its doors to the community as well.

As a whole, Statesboro has seen some major growth within the past five years with the addition of the Eagles Corner Shopping Center, which features a Publix, Starbucks, and soon, QDOBA, a Mexican restaurant. 

“If the region grows, the city grows along with it,” said Justin Williams, director of planning and development for the city of Statesboro. “We have a lot of interest in Statesboro, this is a great place to live and I think a lot of people are realizing that.”

With student enrollment records being broken each year, it seems like the city is growing alongside Georgia Southern, but Williams said many of the building permits for these businesses were approved years ago.

“Development takes a long time. We’ve already gone through the process of rezoning for a Kroger, but that can be years from even considering being an open business here,” said Williams.

Williams added that it can take twelve to eighteen months after a new business is approved before construction can begin. Most recently, construction has begun for Raising Cane’s, a popular fast-food chicken restaurant.