Rooms to Go plans to build new store in north Bibb County

Rooms to Go is looking to build a new showroom in north Bibb County.

The national furniture chain has asked the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission to rezone a 3-acre site at 5097 Riverside Drive from an agricultural district to a general commercial district. The property is across Riverside from The Shoppes at River Crossing.

The rezoning matter is on the commission’s Aug. 24 agenda.

The company would build a 33,600-square-foot furniture store with a parking lot and loading area, according to a statement submitted to the commission.

The existing Rooms to Go showroom at 3172 Macon Tech Drive -- across Eisenhower Parkway from the Macon Mall -- opened in the summer of 1998. The company, founded in 1991, has nearly 150 furniture stores, according to its website.

Efforts to contact someone at the Rooms to Go headquarters in Seffner, Florida, were unsuccessful. It is not known whether the company would retain the existing store.

In recent years, some other big box stores have closed operations on Eisenhower Parkway and opened new stores in north Bibb. Some have opened second stores across town.

Dillard’s, which had a store in Macon Mall, opened a second store in River Crossing when that shopping center opened in March 2008. Dillard’s closed the Macon Mall store later that year.

Dick’s Sporting Goods opened its Eisenhower Crossing store in 2001 and opened the River Crossing store in 2009. It closed the Eisenhower Crossing store in 2014.

Belk, which has been in Macon since it opened downtown in 1942, closed that store and moved to Macon Mall in the mid-1970s. It opened a store in River Crossing in 2008 and closed the Macon Mall store in 2012.

In December 2011, Sears announced it was leaving the mall. It opened a smaller store in 2013 on Billy Williamson Drive.

PetSmart, which came to Billy Williamson Drive 20 years ago, opened a second store at River Crossing in late 2014.

Pier 1 Imports, which has been in Macon for more than 25 years, closed its store on Eisenhower Parkway this spring just before opening a new store at River Crossing.

In July, the Tuesday Morning store located in the Wesleyan Station Shopping Center on Forsyth Road announced that it would move this fall into the former Carol’s Linens store on Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard. Carol’s Linens moved to Forsyth Road.

Telegraph archives was used in this story. To contact writer Linda S. Morris, call 744-4223.

This story was originally published August 4, 2015 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Rooms to Go plans to build new store in north Bibb County ."