Change coming to Dover Commissary

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Chad Padgett
  • 436th AW Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Dover Commissary customers will notice a change to the store beginning in mid-March, according to store officials.

The commissary is installing new energy-efficient freezer units, which will mean more shelf space for products in some sections.

"We're going to go to a complete refrigeration renovation project, which is going to involve replacing all the display cases in the store," said Robert Herms, commissary store director.

The current reach-in style freezers, along with the meat, milk and produce sections of the store will be updated.

"Any display cases in the store that are refrigerated will be taken out and replaced with new ones. The construction will be done in phases," said Mr. Herms. "Phase one will start replacing the freezer cases. Customers will notice things starting to appear and disappear on the floor with the cases."

The new upgrades will not only be an upgrade to display cases, but will also affect other systems in the commissary.

"There is going to be an upgrade to the air conditioning system also," said Mr. Herms. "They're going to tune it up and make some modifications so there is better air flow and circulation and that will also make the system more energy efficient. The produce section will have an automatic misting system and the meat case will go from a single shelf case to a multi-shelf case to make room for more products"

The construction crews will be working at night to try and minimize the impact on the customers.

"I think it's great that the commissary is not only trying to make the impact as minimal as possible on us, but they're also reducing the impact on the environment," said Senior Airman Randy Ward, 436th Operations Support Squadron unit deployment manager and commissary patron. "I like fresh food and having these new freezers will be more efficient and ease my conscience by reducing the base's carbon footprint."

Mr. Herms hopes to have the project completely wrapped up by July 1.

"These kinds of changes are a big benefit to the customer and I'm glad we were able to arrange it. This is the customers surcharge money at work," said Mr. Herms. "We were able to take those funds and upgrade the store to provide a better shopping experience."