New Fort Bliss Commissary to open end of June Six-day celebration offers
food sampling, prizes, promotional prices The Defense Commissary Agency will
open a new commissary at Fort Bliss, Texas, June 29, with a ribbon-cutting
ceremony at 9 a.m. DeCA has a six-day celebration planned to delight all members of the family,
and the events and shopping will kick off immediately following the
ribbon-cutting ceremony. The event will feature spectacular savings as commissary vendors have
stepped up to offer hundreds of promotional prices. The six-day event will
be marked with food sampling, drawings for prizes and other festivities.
Commissary vendors will give away several televisions, a washer and dryer
set, a motorcycle, an SUV and hundreds of smaller prizes to customers.
On grand opening day and June 30 there will also be a soccer kick, a
football toss, two race car simulators, a super slide, a clown and face
painting for children. "We're excited to offer the commissary savings benefit to the growing
military community at Fort Bliss in DeCA's newest store," said Joseph H.
Jeu, DeCA Director and CEO. "Every inch of this store was designed to make
shopping an enjoyable and comfortable experience." The store is located at 1620 Marshall Road, on the south end of Freedom
Crossing at Fort Bliss, a first-of-its-kind shopping, dining and
entertainment marketplace located on a U.S. military installation. The mall
opened in November 2010 with an Army and Air Force Exchange Service main
store, food court, theater and other retail shops. The addition of the
commissary, anchoring one side of the mall, will make retail shopping more
convenient on Fort Bliss.
With the grand opening just a month away, workers are completing
installation of product shelving and the store staff is busy ordering and
receiving merchandise to fill the shelves. "The store is simply beautiful inside, and the modern shelving and
refrigeration cases will allow us to pack in a wider variety of products
than we've been able to fit in the current store," said Store Director Mike
Mena. "We will be able to offer our customers even more of the quality
products they've come to expect." By commissary standards, the new Fort Bliss Commissary is a large store -
one of the 10 largest in DeCA's 249-store inventory. Features of the new
store include more than 60,000 square feet of sales area; 28 checkouts,
eight of which are self-checkouts; full-service meat and produce
departments; an international deli and bakery; an olive bar; hot foods; a
fresh fish market; sushi-to-go and rotisserie chicken. DeCA has included some of the latest environmental and energy efficiency
innovations into the store design, and some of them don't even require an
engineering degree to understand, said Mena. The ceiling has large skylights
to allow in natural light and automatic lighting controls. A heat-reflective
roof will further reduce the commissary's energy needs in the hot Texas
climate. Construction on the $20.3 million commissary began in August 2009, on a
contract awarded to Ledcor Construction, Inc., based in San Diego, Calif.
Construction was funded with Department of Defense Base Realignment and
Closure funds. Mena said that when the new store opens, the commissary hours will change to
better meet the requests of shoppers and to align with operating hours of
the mall. The hours will be Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday
and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The current store, which has operated since 1981, will close at 9 p.m. June
27. Workers will use June 28 to shift the commissary operation to the new
store, Mena said. The Fort Bliss Garrison will take possession of the old commissary building
when DeCA moves into the new store, and it is considering several reuse
options for the facility, according to John Kirby, deputy director of the
Fort Bliss Garrison Plans and Training Directorate.
food sampling, prizes, promotional prices The Defense Commissary Agency will
open a new commissary at Fort Bliss, Texas, June 29, with a ribbon-cutting
ceremony at 9 a.m. DeCA has a six-day celebration planned to delight all members of the family,
and the events and shopping will kick off immediately following the
ribbon-cutting ceremony. The event will feature spectacular savings as commissary vendors have
stepped up to offer hundreds of promotional prices. The six-day event will
be marked with food sampling, drawings for prizes and other festivities.
Commissary vendors will give away several televisions, a washer and dryer
set, a motorcycle, an SUV and hundreds of smaller prizes to customers.
On grand opening day and June 30 there will also be a soccer kick, a
football toss, two race car simulators, a super slide, a clown and face
painting for children. "We're excited to offer the commissary savings benefit to the growing
military community at Fort Bliss in DeCA's newest store," said Joseph H.
Jeu, DeCA Director and CEO. "Every inch of this store was designed to make
shopping an enjoyable and comfortable experience." The store is located at 1620 Marshall Road, on the south end of Freedom
Crossing at Fort Bliss, a first-of-its-kind shopping, dining and
entertainment marketplace located on a U.S. military installation. The mall
opened in November 2010 with an Army and Air Force Exchange Service main
store, food court, theater and other retail shops. The addition of the
commissary, anchoring one side of the mall, will make retail shopping more
convenient on Fort Bliss.
With the grand opening just a month away, workers are completing
installation of product shelving and the store staff is busy ordering and
receiving merchandise to fill the shelves. "The store is simply beautiful inside, and the modern shelving and
refrigeration cases will allow us to pack in a wider variety of products
than we've been able to fit in the current store," said Store Director Mike
Mena. "We will be able to offer our customers even more of the quality
products they've come to expect." By commissary standards, the new Fort Bliss Commissary is a large store -
one of the 10 largest in DeCA's 249-store inventory. Features of the new
store include more than 60,000 square feet of sales area; 28 checkouts,
eight of which are self-checkouts; full-service meat and produce
departments; an international deli and bakery; an olive bar; hot foods; a
fresh fish market; sushi-to-go and rotisserie chicken. DeCA has included some of the latest environmental and energy efficiency
innovations into the store design, and some of them don't even require an
engineering degree to understand, said Mena. The ceiling has large skylights
to allow in natural light and automatic lighting controls. A heat-reflective
roof will further reduce the commissary's energy needs in the hot Texas
climate. Construction on the $20.3 million commissary began in August 2009, on a
contract awarded to Ledcor Construction, Inc., based in San Diego, Calif.
Construction was funded with Department of Defense Base Realignment and
Closure funds. Mena said that when the new store opens, the commissary hours will change to
better meet the requests of shoppers and to align with operating hours of
the mall. The hours will be Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday
and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The current store, which has operated since 1981, will close at 9 p.m. June
27. Workers will use June 28 to shift the commissary operation to the new
store, Mena said. The Fort Bliss Garrison will take possession of the old commissary building
when DeCA moves into the new store, and it is considering several reuse
options for the facility, according to John Kirby, deputy director of the
Fort Bliss Garrison Plans and Training Directorate.
