AAFES outh Express Shoppette has grand reopening

Major renovations to the "Snack Avenue" on display during the AAFES Sheppard South Express Shoppette grand reopening event on Mar. 9, 2012. The existing shoppette facility was renovated over a six-month time span, with both the exterior and interior receiving makeovers. (U.S. Air Force photo/Dan Hawkins)

AAFES outh Express Shoppette has grand reopening

A look down one of the aisles of the renovated AAFES Sheppard South Express Shoppette during the grand reopening event on Mar. 9, 2012. The existing shoppette facility was renovated over a six-month time span, with both the exterior and interior receiving makeovers. (U.S. Air Force photo/Dan Hawkins)

AAFES South Express Shoppette has grand reopening

Published March 9, 2012
By Dan Hawkins
82nd Training Wing Public Affairs

SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The Army and Air Force Exchange Service held a grand reopening event for the Sheppard South Express Shoppette on March 9, showing off a brand new exterior and interior after an overhaul of the existing facility.

To commemorate the event, AAFES conducted numerous drawings for gift baskets, gift cards and vendor merchandise.

With a host of changes that were much-needed and important from a customer standpoint, the changes touched almost every major aspect of the store.

"The biggest changes will be the alignment of the fixtures, the assortment will change a bit,...the floors are new," Devlin said. "The Snack Avenue is the huge change. It's got everything from cappuccino to coffee, to frozen drinks to soda in the spicket. It's a great new change."

The project took approximately six months to complete, but the gleaming end result and the impact on the consumers is exciting for Devlin.

"It's a big deal for us," Devlin said. "We've been waiting so long for this thing to come to fruition. We've gone from old, little drab looking store, to a nice, new, state-of-the-art, fresh, clean looking store. We're really excited about it and glad to offer it to the community."

Staff Sgt. John McClean, a chaplain's assistant with the 82nd Training Wing, took immediate notice of the more customer-friendly changes.

"It's important to update the facilities in order to get people to come here," McClean said. "There is so much off-base, if it's not offered on base, if it's not something people want to come to, then they are not going to come here. So it's important to make updates and to make it a place people want to come to."

From a customer perspective, the changes made in the shoppette were clearly for the better.

"I think it's always good to have improvements on Sheppard," said Staff Sgt. Kinyada Johnson of the 82nd Aerospace Medicine Squadron. "This (shoppette) is much better than the old one."