$2.8M expansion of Troop Store gets underway

Conceptual drawings of the proposed expansion of the Troops Store at the Army Reserve Center in Puerto Rico. (Jon Perez)

Active members of the U.S. Armed Forces, reservists, and veterans including their families will have a bigger and better Troop Store once its $2.8-million expansion and other improvements are completed next year. The store is located along Industrial Drive in Puerto Rico.

Construction crews had already started work on the site, located just beside the current store. The store remains open with the current facility to be torn down as soon as the new facility takes shape.

William “Rick” Fair said the Troop Store expansion project was long overdue and he is now looking forward for next year’s ribbon cutting. Fair is the area manager for Korea, Guam, and Saipan of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, an agency that is also under the U.S. Department of Defense.

“We’ve done a site visit here and we take into consideration the condition of the building, and it is now 30 years old,” said Fair, who attended yesterday’s groundbreaking ceremony where it was simultaneously held with the Saipan Army Reserve Center’s facility revitalization project.

“Possibly we’re looking at February or March of next year for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Once the new facility is completed, we’re ready to better serve those who are in the active duty, retirees, reservists, and veterans including their families,” Fair added.

U.S. Delegate Gregorio “Kilili” Sablan (Ind-MP), in a message read by district director Mike Tenorio, said all those who serve—active, reservists, retirees, and veterans—the Armed Forces need a better facility.

“You deserve better. It took some work from the [DoD] to get the project going and we kept pushing for it. We owe all of you for the service that you gave to our nation,” said Sablan, who is in Washington, D.C. since the U.S. House of Representatives is still in session.

“The community has outgrown the store and the facility has deteriorated even if renovations were done in 2003. There were also delays like the discovery of World War II ordnances. It took another three years but now the area is safe and the project is ready to go,” he added.

Veterans Affairs Office director Gregorio M. Sablan Jr. said, “The expansion would mean more commodities will be offered to all—veterans, active and reservists, and retirees—and their families.”

Thirty percent of AAFES’ profit is funding the project, which is part of the non-appropriated funds. The 70 percent goes back to the community where the Troop Store is located for other projects for the people.

Fair said that Saipan is his third stop after attending store openings in American Samoa and Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. “This just proves our mission that we’re here to make it happen.”

He added that the Troop Store expansion project on Saipan would not have pushed through without the help of the entire CNMI community. “The community helped made it happen. This won’t have also pushed through without the support of the CNMI leadership.”

The new facility, once completed in 2017, will have a total area of 5,000 square feet that is more than four times larger than the current store. It will serve more than 4,000 active, reservists, retirees, veterans, and their families in the CNMI.

“It will have more space and we can now we can increase the items that we offer and bring new products to see if the people would to buy them. I also heard that people [in the CNMI] love cold beverages, the new store will have more cold storage space,” said Fair.

He said that AAFES is not always for profit when it comes to building its stores. “We base our stores in customers and sales. We generate sales to support our operations cost to build stores. But we don’t do everything for profit.”

“We do this to serve troops and their families. We fund some stores from those stores who make lots of profit,” said Fair, who added that even other branches of the Armed Forces—Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard—are also welcome to avail the services of the store.