New shopping complex opens April 6 Published Feb. 3, 2010 By Angela Cutrer Keesler News staff KEESLER AFB, Ms. -- The April 6 grand opening for the new $60 million base exchange and commissary is sure to interest plenty of local shoppers, and for good reason: It's been a long time coming, thanks to the uninvited appearance of an infamous lady named Katrina. It took almost five years to sweep out her mess, but now the time has come to get ready for the new and improved shopping experience at Keesler. The new exchange will have a 95,250 square-foot sales area and 35,756 square-foot office and warehouse area, said Penny Madison, general manager of Keesler's Army and Air Force Exchange Service facilities. The area will also have a 11,000 square-foot food court, as well as a new satellite pharmacy, said Johnny Michael, Parsons Construction, technical inspector for the exchange portion of the job. "The new facilities are larger and more modern and will feel more open and airy," Mr. Michael said. The exchange's main sales floor will contain a Power Zone and a complete garden shop, along with sales areas for shoes, clothing, furniture, household items, bicycles, jewelry, toys, fragrances, books and magazines. The new exchange includes an enclosed mall with 20-foot ceilings and skylights, with concessionaires around the mall hallway. The main sales area can be reached via the mall area or outdoor living area. The food court is located at the west end of mall, with food concessionaires curving in an arc around the seating area. There's a seating area south of the food court inside an enclosed passageway. There are two entrances: through the food court and the main entrance at the high tower. Mall services include a barber shop, beauty shop, nail salon, optician, optical shop, military clothing store and alteration shop. The concessionaires include GNC, Asian shop, sports memorabilia, art gallery, flower shop and GameStop. The food court, which opens March 18, features Charlie's Steakery (which will serve breakfast), Manchu Wok, Anthony's Pizza and Subs, Taco Bell, Baskin Robbins and Starbucks. The new Defense Commis-sary Agency store will have 54,000 square feet of sales area, 10,000 square feet of offices and 32,000 square feet of warehouse space. It has an open ceiling with exposed roof joints. "The commissary, which will feature a full-service deli and a sushi bar, will offer rotisserie chicken, produce, fresh meat, fresh produce, frozen foods, dairy products, health and beauty items, regular groceries and household goods," said store director Gordy Harris. The commissary entrances will be at the flat top tower; shoppers will enter from either the outside or from the exchange mall. The new commissary sales floor will be 25 percent larger -- that's 10,000 square feet more sales floor -- than the pre-Katrina commissary. "It will have an open-air concept with wider aisles and eight self-serve checkouts," said Tom McCall, Parsons' technical inspector. "The biggest plus for this new commissary is the 1,300 parking spots in front of the complex as opposed to the 197 spots for the (temporary) commissary." Main exchange hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The commissary will be open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. The satellite pharmacy, scheduled to open March 22, "includes a double drive-through service area and expanded space to provide direct patient care," said Lt. Col. Larry Taylor, pharmacy flight commander. "The new location will greatly improve parking and the patient lobby area." The new pharmacy will house state-of-the-art robotics and automated prescription dispensing equipment that will enhance patient safety and processing time. The new shopping complex is located at 506 Larcher Blvd. The general contractor is Caddell Construction Co. of Montgomery, Ala.