RICEBORO – How quickly is work starting on Riceboro’s Dollar General?

The cement trucks were waiting on the end of Thursday morning’s groundbreaking to start rolling in and getting to work.

Riceboro and Liberty County officials happily tossed shovels of dirt on a lot right along Highway 17, signifying the start of work for the city’s long-awaited store.

“Hopefully, by the end of January, start of February, you will be able to walk into your own Dollar General,” Riceboro Mayor Chris Stacy proclaimed.

Stacy, current Riceboro City Council members and past members of the Riceboro council were effusive in their praise for the work that went into it.

“I’m just thankful I was part of it,” said Council member David Miller.

“It was teamwork. It wasn’t just one group of council members or one group of people in office,” Stacy said.

Stacy said the master plan started under former mayor Bill Austin included stores for the city, and work on getting a Dollar General started in 2008.

“We are so proud to be here today,” said Council member Pearlie Axson. “We’re really looking forward to having our own store.”

Thomasville-based Teramore Development, which has built scores of Dollar General locations across the South among its projects, is erecting the Riceboro store. Teramore averages building 60 Dollar General stores a year.

“We hope this is a resource for people of this community for many, many years to come,” said Matt Morrow, the project manager for Teramore.

Stacy also thanked SNF, which enabled the city to purchase the site where the store is being built.

The store will be 10,600 square feet and stocking the store is expected to start around January 16. The lot where the store will sit was cleared in about four days, Morrow said.

And the project could have begun even faster.

“We’re a little bit behind the 8-ball in our schedule,” Morrow said. “We wanted to start about a month ago.”

The state Department of Transportation has requested changes, and a turn lane will be put in for the store.

“But we’re glad we’re getting started,” Morrow said. “They are very excited here.”

Morrow added that Mayor Stacy spent four hours on site with him a couple of weeks ago.

“The town itself is very excited. I know everyone is glad this store is going to be here,” Morrow said. “When the ribbon cutting comes, it’s going to be a big event.”

“This is a great day in Riceboro,” Mayor Stacy said. “We’re looking forward to doing more great things.”

The mayor and the council members hope more is in store for Riceboro in the near future.

“This is the just the beginning for the City of Riceboro,” Council member Miller said, “and you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”