COLORADO SPRINGS — The King Soopers on 2910 South Academy Blvd. reopens today after being closed since June. It’s a day that customers who prefer to shop at this grocery store have been waiting for.
Many people said they are happy their neighborhood grocery store is back open. King Soopers spent nearly 3 million dollars on remodeling the store. They had to replace the tile floor because of asbestos in it.
There was a line out the door for Wednesday’s grand opening. Many people said they are happy their neighborhood grocery store is back open. King Soopers management team gave speeches thanking the employees, community partners, and the construction crew, for being flexible over the last couple months. They also gave Care And Share Food Bank a check for $10,000.
News5 spoke with a few customers who like the renovations. Lynn Londry has been a shopper at this King Soopers store for over 10 years.
“It's close by and I know several of the employees that work here, they're all friendly. They're helpful. It's a very fun place to be,” Londry said.
Londry was pleased with how the store looked at the grand opening.
“First of all, it's clean. It's well organized and friendly because I know the people here,” Londry said. “I like grand openings. I like to see what the stores like, what they're offering, what the improvements are, and just get a feel for the new store,” Londry said.
In June, the store tested positive for asbestos in the floor and in the pickup and pharmacy areas. Following this discovery, the store was closed for several months for an asbestos cleanup. Through this cleanup process, King Soopers has worked closely with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to make sure the store is safe to reopen.
“We didn't know anything about it. I guess it is asbestos, no idea. Kind of sad, but we lived with it,” Londry said.
Like Londry, Kieth Robak is also a King Soopers shopper. Robak likes to buy fresh produce from King Soopers.
“Fresh with organic kale for my green smoothie for tomorrow morning,” Robak said.
Robak said he typically shops at this store and that it was a little inconvenient that it closed.
“I only live a mile away and when they closed it. I cried like a little girl,” Robak said.
Robak said the store is rearranged a little differently but he likes what he has seen so far.
“The presentation and the added choices that consumers will have and all of this looks like Whole Foods,” Robak said.
Robak and Londry said one of their favorite parts of the store is the people who work there. Loretta Guy has worked at this King Soopers store for 16 years.
While the store was being renovated, employees were transferred to other King Soopers locations.
“I'm excited to be back. I'm excited to be out home. This is my home store so I'm very excited to be home and not at other stores working. It's been very stressful going from store to store. I like this store,” Guy said.
Guy worked at other King Soopers locations while the store was being renovated.
“I live right up the street. So I won’t miss going 20 minutes, thirty minutes, sometimes 35 minutes, to get to a different store,” Guy said.
Guy said going back to work at her home store was emotional.
“I'm home, I got really emotional and I started crying and then I had to walk out because that is how happy I was that I got to come back,” Guy said.
She is excited to see customers back in the store.
“All our regulars coming in this morning were like, Oh my goddess,” Guy said.
Employees were handing out loaves of bread to customers as they walked out the doors to welcome them back.
King Soopers management said now that this store is reopened, they expect the other stores to be less crowded.
Some local local shoppers in the area who say they have been looking forward to this store’s reopening for quite some time.
“I like it because it’s convenient. I like it because it’s close to the library and I can get there and they have a lot more things that Walmart doesn’t have,” said Jim Hamster, a shopper.
This King Soopers on South Academy had its grand opening on Wednesday at 8 a.m. The event will included a ribbon cutting, as store associates welcome the community to the newly remodeled store.
After today’s grand opening, the store hours returned to its normal hours from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Sunday through Saturday.
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