Army and Air Force Exchange Service salesperson Junko Takahashi helps a customer at the jewelry counter in the Misawa main base exchange Wednesday. The store’s jewelry counters have been reconfigured to make room for the addition of two new cosmetic lines. (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — A million-dollar makeover to the main base exchange store and mall area here should be finished by mid-September, according to Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials.
Parts of the store are cordoned off this week as work continues on renovating the cosmetics and women’s accessories sections, with the major change being the addition of cosmetics lines Clinique and Shiseido, Misawa AAFES general manager Wayne Hansen said.
The complex upgrades began in 2005 with the opening of Subway and the expansion of Baskin-Robbins. This spring, Pizza Hut replaced Anthony’s Pizza in the food court, and in July improvements were made to the flower, optical and barber shops in the BX mall.
“This has been 18 months to two years in the planning,” Hansen said of the project.
Other current main store renovations include consolidating the cashier’s cage with customer service and expanding the PowerZone electronics and computer department, Hansen said.
“We’re increasing the sales floor by roughly 2,500 square feet,” he said.
With that extra space will come more displays and more products, Hansen said The DVD lineup will expand, as will the selection of computer accessories (such as photo printers), which he said is one of the fastest-growing sales categories.
Work on both cosmetics and PowerZone sections should finish sometime between Aug. 17 and Aug. 25.
Also on the 17th, the AAFES beauty salon in the BX mall will close for three weeks for a complete floor-plan renovation that includes bringing the number of manicure stations to four and pedicure stations to three, Hansen said.
“The one pedicure station we had was not meeting demand,” Hansen said. “The waiting list could be from a week up to three weeks.”
AAFES has no alternate location for the beauty shop during its closure.
The photo center also is slated for a minor image upgrade in the next month or so, he said.
After the BX complex is spruced up, AAFES is planning to build a new shoppette between Popeye’s and the post office, Hansen said. Construction is to begin in June 2007 and finish within a year.
