Customers come first according to Safeway store director Mark Jones after a reopening ceremony was held on Wednesday.
“We want to make sure that we’re showing as a company that we’re investing in our community because that’s who we do this. We want them to have the beautiful store they deserve,” Jones said.
Juneau’s Safeway store celebrated its grand reopening with a ribbon cutting after various internal remodeling projects have been underway since October of last year. Additionally, the store donated a $2,000 check to Southeast Alaska Food Bank, which was accepted by food bank manager Chris Schapp who said the donation is just a fraction of the amount Safeway has helped out the foodbank over the years.
“Safeway is so generous, it’s great to get their support,” Schapp said. “It’s great for the fact that they help out in the community so much and it’s nice to see their grand reopening, the store looks really good. The food bank continues to be unbelievably busy, so every little bit of help we can get is really appreciated and thanks to the community for stepping up the way they do to help out.”
Safeway district manager Stephanie Kennedy said the store is honored to be able to provide the food bank with a monetary donation, which Kennedy said was a first for the store.
“We have an ongoing relationship with the food bank, we run campaigns each year where we do what’s called Nourishing Neighbors where we raise money through the months of November and December,” Kennedy said. “We also donate gift cards to the food bank that people can use to purchase food or give to families in need for shopping. We also support them with items in the store everyday that are post dated and pull them to donate so that they can have that at the food bank.”
Safeway grocery manager Michelle Lecorchick and inventory control manager Adam Tolles cut the red ribbon during Wednesday’s grand reopening ceremony for the store’s Juneau location. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
Jones said the entire remodeling process took roughly three months with some additional punch list items still being addressed, such as ceiling tiles and extra projects.
“Our fuel center is actually going to also be getting remodeled, it just wasn’t in the scope of when they initially did it, so it’s a couple of extras that happened,” Jones said. “It usually will take us anywhere from three months with an initial one to two months afterwards to finalize everything.”
The remodel expanded on a lot of extra fixtures and promotions, according to Jones, specifically within the deli department where Jones said they’ve added a new prepared meals program called Ready Meals.
Safeway employees and store managers pose for a group photo on Wednesday after a grand reopening ceremony was held to celebrate the completion of many remodeling projects. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
Additionally, Jones said the remodel included updates to some of the store’s technology with TV menu boards, as well as increasing the space in the flow of the produce and floral departments. Jones said the biggest hurdles the store faced had to do with the logistics of getting fixtures and cases shipped into Juneau to stay within their timeline.
“The construction team, they really pulled together because timelines for the grand opening changed from Jan. 25 to Jan. 11 and over the time frame it put a little bit of a crunch on us, but it pulled together,” Jones said. “It was just a lot of organization, really clean management of the teams because they do 90% of the work overnight so that way it doesn’t impact the flow of the customers.”
• Contact reporter Jonson Kuhn at jonson.kuhn@juneauempire.com.
