NEX General Manager Sandra Franklin looks over a model of the Navy Exchange store at Sasebo Naval Base. In her hand is a model of the former store that was demolished to make room for the new building. (Juliana Gittler / S&S)
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Two more months of dust and gravitating merchandise and main base residents will have an integrated and expanded Navy Exchange.
The $15.8 million project will bring together merchandise that had been scattered across several separate buildings and will create about 20 percent more retail floor space, said General Manager Sandra Franklin.
The project was split into two phases. The first part was the main retail building, which opened to the public in January. Phase two, to further expand the store, had to wait until the old NEX building was demolished behind it.
But the wait is almost over: The expansion is expected to be complete this week, at which time employees can start moving merchandise into place, Franklin said. The grand opening is scheduled for Oct. 11.
The extra space not only allows consolidating products into one building but also makes room for more items, she said.
Space occupied by jewelry alone will expand from 33 linear feet to 98 linear feet.
“The basis for this is the quality of life for the customer,” Franklin said. “It’s much more shoppable.”
The new building will include a larger selection of men’s and women’s clothes; more jewelry and watches; the contents of the current Four Seasons store; the books, cards and magazines now in the Fleet Store across the street; and the toiletries, cosmetics, soaps and other hygiene products now in the mini-mart down the road.
Starting this week, employees — including some borrowed from NEX Yokosuka — will move merchandise, building new fixtures and stocking those fixtures in their wake in a domino effect across the store.
Signs will be posted to help customers navigate.
“It’s going to be a big mess over the next couple of months,” Franklin said.
The expansion is one of the biggest retail changes at Sasebo, said Franklin, who arrived at Sasebo four years ago. But it isn’t the only project claiming her attention. Almost as soon as the new store is complete, several other NEX projects will start or wrap up.
“Every single facility has had a renovation on the retail side,” Franklin said.
The projects include:
