Goolsby’s is opening a second location.
The Southern food restaurant announced Wednesday that it’s expanding to a building on 3122 Wrightsboro Road across from Forest Hills Golf Course.
“We’d been interested in finding a standalone building forever,” said owner Wilkes Goolsby. “And we’ve been really interested in a drive-thru; we felt like it would alleviate some of the to go business that we do.”
Gary Gibson had renovated the nearly 3,500-square foot building to open another location for his Gary’s Hamburger chain in 2020. Positioned at Wrightsboro Plaza, next to Forest Hills Storage, along a four-lane highway, surrounded by apartments and houses, the parcel is outside the current reach of the eatery’s flagship location on Washington Road in Evans.
“We just wanted to expand that customer base,” Goolsby said. “Gary who owns Gary hamburgers actually put in a ton of work in that building. It’s a brand-new building with brand equipment. It all just kind of fell into place.”
Wilkes Goolsby is the son of Richard Goolsby, who launched the business in the early 80s from his house in Lincolnton, offering barbecue on Saturdays. Goolsby’s opened its doors in Evans in 2007, where it has been an award-winning staple of Southern cuisine in the area since.
The Goolsbys had been searching the Augusta area for its latest site in a more accommodating space not attached to a shopping strip for several years, including the outparcel building at the Publix Shopping Center on Furys Ferry Road that is now a Mi Rancho, at before Richard passed away in early 2021.
“That was his next step,” said Wilkes Goolsby. “So, I’ve been looking for it for the last two years, to just try to make that make that dream come true for him.”
Some of the staff is currently training to man the new spot, and Goolsby expects to open around early March.
The Evans Goolsby’s is located at 4460 Washington Road, Ste. 9.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
