What's New and What's Next on West Hattiesburg's Hardy Street and Highway 98 This Fall

Plenty of 2026 news from Hattiesburg's west side is about new construction and fresh dirt. On Hardy Street, the two biggest changes this year are new names moving into buildings you have driven past for years. Rouses Market took over the old Winn-Dixie. Texas Roadhouse is finishing up inside the former O'Charley's. Farther out on Highway 98, past I-59, a Louisiana Cajun chain is building its first Mississippi restaurant. And this summer, the state finished resurfacing and repair work on the roads that tie all three together.

So the west side is getting new places to shop and eat without its map changing much. The turn into the parking lot is the same one you have always used, but the sign over the door is different. Here is where each project stands as of late October, in order from the 40th Avenue end of Hardy Street out toward Weathersby Road.

Two familiar buildings, two new signs

Rouses Market at 4400 Hardy Street

The first change came early in the year. WJTV/WHLT reported that Rouses Market officially opened its Hattiesburg store on Feb. 9, 2026, in the former Winn-Dixie building on Hardy Street.

The address is 4400 Hardy St., and according to that report the store is open every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. For anyone on the west side, those hours make for an easy stop before work or a late errand on the way home. The store was hiring when it opened, with a team on site that first week and applications also taken online.

Rouses has now been open for most of the year, so it's no longer news to anyone who shops this stretch. It belongs here because it started the pattern the rest of the corridor is following. The building was already there. The parking lot and the turn lanes were already there too. Only the name over the entrance changed.

Texas Roadhouse at 4640 Hardy Street

A short way west on Hardy, the same thing is happening with a restaurant. The new Texas Roadhouse is going into the former O'Charley's site, according to SM2 Media's Oct. 14, 2026 report. The chain's Hattiesburg location page lists the address as 4640 Hardy Street and shows "Open 12/7."

As of mid-October, SM2 Media reported that the construction barriers and fencing around the building had come down. The location's website already listed the planned opening date, the operating hours, details about the manager, and job applications. The location page also says the restaurant is hiring and links to open positions.

From the street, the most visible sign of progress is that the fencing is gone. A building that housed one sit-down restaurant is close to housing another, and it never sat empty long enough to become an eyesore.

Texas Roadhouse joins a group of steakhouse chains already in Hattiesburg. SM2 Media names Outback Steakhouse, LongHorn Steakhouse and Logan's Roadhouse. That gives west-side families planning a birthday or holiday dinner one more option close to home by the end of the year.

Out past I-59, a first for Mississippi

The third project breaks the pattern, and it's the one with the most open questions.

Off The Hook, a Cajun fast-casual restaurant from Louisiana, has announced a location at 6218 U.S. Highway 98 in Hattiesburg. The company calls it its first Mississippi location. The company posted its announcement on July 28, 2026, and the Hattiesburg American covered the news two days later.

The company's own announcement page still says the Hattiesburg restaurant is "Opening Fall 2026." It describes construction and hiring as underway, and it lists the official grand-opening date as still to be announced. Fall runs through late December, so the company's own wording leaves room for an opening anytime between now and the holidays.

This one is on Highway 98, west of the interstate, where the corridor shifts from the older Hardy Street blocks to the busier stretch heading toward Lamar County. The Hardy Street projects put new names on familiar buildings. This one brings in a name new to the whole state, and Hattiesburg's west side is the first place in Mississippi to get it.

The road under all of it

All three addresses sit along a state road project that wrapped up this summer.

In March, WDAM reported on a $4.3 million state resurfacing and repair project on U.S. 98 and Hardy Street, with a tentative finish in late summer. The work finished about on schedule. A Mississippi Department of Transportation update dated July 22, 2026 lists the project as complete.

The scope lines up almost exactly with the corridor in this post. MDOT describes a mill and overlay on U.S. 98 from Weathersby Road to I-59, along with raised pavement marker replacement and repairs to failed areas on Hardy Street from 40th Avenue to U.S. 49. Warren Paving won the contract.

So the U.S. 98 overlay ran right past Off The Hook's site, which is west of I-59. Hardy Street got the marker and repair work along its run between 40th Avenue and U.S. 49. If you drive these roads every day, you already know the summer lane closures are over. The new arrivals coming in December will open after that work has wrapped up.

A westbound run, address by address

Here is the whole corridor in the order you would pass it heading west, with each spot's status as of this week.

1. Rouses Market, 4400 Hardy St. Open since Feb. 9, 2026, in the former Winn-Dixie building, daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
2. Texas Roadhouse, 4640 Hardy St. Going into the former O'Charley's site, with the construction fencing down. The company page lists the opening as "Open 12/7."
3. I-59 crossing. Here Hardy Street gives way to the U.S. 98 stretch that MDOT resurfaced out to Weathersby Road this year.
4. Off The Hook, 6218 U.S. Highway 98. Under construction and hiring, with a Fall 2026 opening announced and the grand-opening date still to be announced.

Only the first stop is open right now. The second has a published date, and the third has a season. That's useful for anyone planning a holiday meal out or picking a spot when relatives come to town.

Keeping the December dates loose

The opening dates for both restaurants come from the companies themselves. Neither restaurant has opened yet. Opening dates for new restaurants can move, and Off The Hook hasn't committed to a specific day. Before you plan a group dinner or tell visiting family you're taking them somewhere new, check the Texas Roadhouse location page and Off The Hook's announcement page for the latest.

What is already settled is the shape of the corridor. Between 40th Avenue and I-59, this year's changes on Hardy Street happened inside buildings that were already standing, the Winn-Dixie that became Rouses and the O'Charley's that is becoming Texas Roadhouse. Past the interstate, the new piece is a restaurant chain making its first move into Mississippi. All of it sits along a corridor where MDOT finished its resurfacing and repair work in July. If you live off Hardy or Highway 98, you'll find a few more places to stop along your usual routes before the year is out.

If you're on the west side and curious how these openings might shape life around your own street, I'm always glad to talk Hardy Street and Highway 98 with a neighbor. Reach out to Haley Ensminger anytime. Let's Connect.