Before you drive downtown, know this: the dress shop on the corner of South Main is under new ownership, and it is not Frills anymore. On January 31, 2026, Frills and Company announced it would close that spring. Owner Scott Marchbanks was retiring at 56, ending close to two decades in the formalwear business on that block.
The shop’s history in Georgia runs longer than Marchbanks’ ownership. The store opened in 1991 as Frills & Fancies. Marchbanks came in as a customer in the mid-2000s, shopping for dresses for a niece who was competing in the Miss Georgia system, and started his own chapter at the end of 2006. For most families in Bulloch County it was simply Frills, and it was the default stop for pageant, prom, and bridal.
The wind-down was fast. Grice Connect reported that through February 10, every dress in the building was priced at $300, no exceptions. Marchbanks never set a public last day; the store worked through spring 2026 and shut.
Who is in the building now
GG Formals and GG Forever, out of Dublin, took the lease. The owners, Suzanne and Matt Lake, are Georgia Southern graduates who bought their first house in Statesboro. The Downtown Statesboro Development Authority’s shop directory lists 1 S. Main Street as opening in August 2026, under the GG Forever Bridal name, still on the (912) 764-9545 number.
One thing to be clear about: the Lakes bought the space, not the business. Inventory, designer authorizations, and staff do not transfer with a lease. If a brand’s store locator still points you to this address for Jovani, La Femme, or Tarik Ediz, that listing is describing Frills, which no longer exists. Those pages have not caught up. Call before you assume a specific label is on the rack.
If you are shopping for a Bulloch County prom
The three public high schools here — Statesboro High, Southeast Bulloch out on Brooklet-Denmark Road, and Portal Middle/High — plus Bulloch Academy and Trinity Christian all pulled from one downtown block for years. Southeast Bulloch alone serves more than 1,100 students. That concentration is why the closing was news and not just a business item.
Practical options for the 2027 season:
- The GG store now at 1 S. Main. New shop, same address, worth a call about what they stock for prom versus bridal.
- GG’s original Dublin location, west on I-16, if you want to see the full inventory the family is known for in Middle Georgia.
- Savannah, 50 miles east, which is the standard fallback drive from Statesboro for anything the Boro doesn’t carry.
- For quinceañera gowns, The Quince of Your Dreams has been downtown since 2023 and carries a range from moderate to elaborate.
Statesboro is a college town — Georgia Southern sits on the west side of it — so formalwear demand here has never been only high school. That is part of why the corner did not stay empty for long. But the shop your older sister went to is gone, and the reviews you find online for this address were written about a different store.