“It’s something I have not seen since I have been alive, and I have lived in this area for 38 years,” Trey Miller shared in an email to Grice Connect earlier this month. As the owner of a new Brooklet, Georgia business, the Ogeechee General Store at 121 Parker Avenue, he realized that nearly every storefront in the town’s once sleepy main strip is now full.
And he’s right. Walking across from El Maguey’s to Brooklet Drug and down toward Bohler Family Practice, shops on East Lee and Parker Avenue North are blossoming, just in time for spring.
Local residents and visitors from nearby towns, like Statesboro, could easily spend a whole day strolling through a variety of retail spaces. From The Miscellaneous Shop, which holds a treasure trove of “miscellaneous” antiques and boutique-store finds, to Tiffany's and Ivy Rose, and specialty shops like J’Adore Bridal and Coastal Saddlery, Brooklet’s downtown is becoming a great destination for serious shoppers and leisurely browsers alike.
Brooklet, Georgia is located in Bulloch County Georgia 10 miles east of Statesboro, Georgia.
Ogeechee General
Miller's new store is the kind of place where big fish stories get started and Andy Griffith reruns play on repeat next to a pot of fresh coffee. The sound of crickets (for live bait) chirping only accentuates the feeling of a truly old-fashioned bait shop and general store in the center of this beloved town.
“The community has been very welcoming, and everyone seems to be enjoying [the store] and the other shops down the street,” Miller shared as he greeted his customers by name.
“It looks like you have the kind of stuff we can use around here,” observed Frank Mincey, a customer and longtime resident of the Ogeechee River area, as he browsed the aisles.
Miller said it’s his goal to stock the shelves with the types of fishing gear that local fishers use—he knows, because he's one of them—and many of his lures and other items for sale, including Horton's beef jerky, are locally made.
But he was most excited to discuss the shared success of all of Brooklet’s downtown businesses and his fellow store owners:
“Prosser’s has re-opened with his son, and it’s great that this little town is opening up.” Miller says he grew up in Stilson and has never seen downtown Brooklet so full of life.
Positioned for growth
Just a few doors down from Ogeechee General, the doors of The Miscellaneous Shop are open and inviting. Lisa Butts, who co-owns the store alongside Cathy Archer, says “It’s great because you’ve got a coffee shop coming, we have Ivy Rose and other great shops here now, and you add Trey to the mix and you can make a day of it, then head down highway 80 and hit an auction!”
The Miscellaneous Shop showcases the fun, funky, and fashionable wares of 22 vendors and a mercantile. “We try to have something for everyone,” Butts says. They will celebrate their store’s one-year anniversary in May, and “we are loving it!"
Nikki Perkins, of J’Adore, says even though they see about the same number of customers due to the specialized nature of the bridal industry, she has noticed that downtown has become busier; parking and traffic have noticeably increased, and they have more foot traffic related to tux rentals and accessory needs during prom season.
Cassidy White, pharmacist for Brooklet Drug, a part of Walker Pharmacy, says she has even seen an uptick in the number of prescriptions as more patients move to the area.
“With the plant coming and the great school system, more people are wanting to move to Brooklet and they are coming to downtown,” she says.
One door down is Ivy Rose, a clothing boutique owned by mother-daughter duo Kristy and Kylee Smith. As he covered the shop for them during lunch, Carl Smith says that just a year ago, April 2023, half a dozen of Brooklet’s downtown buildings were closed and boarded up. “I called J’Adore and asked who owned these buildings,” he then spent four months renovating what would become Ivy Rose, transforming it into a modern boutique with gifts and clothing “for all shapes, sizes, and ages.”
“Tiffany’s started it, we were one of the first after that, then Roundabout Café came, the Miscellaneous Shop came next, and then 180 Fitness just opened last month,” Smith recalled.
And if shopping and dining get old, Nick Agar Studios, located next to Tiffany’s, is home to Nick Agar’s one-of-a-kind, award-winning woodturning studio where he offers classes in woodturning, sculpture, pyrography, airbrushing and wood art. His Facebook page showcases just a few of his incredible pieces of art.
The growth is not slowing down: A new equestrian store, Coastal Saddlery, just opened offering one of the only customized riding equipment stores in the region.
Small-town charm is alive and well
In spite of all of the excitement and the promises new growth brings, the glass bottle of Cheerwine open on Ogeechee General’s counter, and the half-dozen fishermen talking with Miller about which size silverfish to carry in his store, offer assurances that the small-town charm of Brooklet’s downtown is still alive and well, and brimming with possibility.
