The White Falcon - 26.09.1980, Blaðsíða 4

September 26, 1980
con’t. from pago l
T oylaift
completed and there will be more
than enough toys for the kids at
Christmas.
According to Bob Webber, a Navy
Exchange Buyer, when the Main Retail
store was constructed in 1978, there
was no project to renovate the up-
stairs. "Seabees and NEX mainten-
ance personnel built a make-shift
mezzanine to house the toys and
sporting goods," he said. "Later it
was further adapted to hold furni-
ture. But it needed remodeling and
NEX requested that the space be
renovated."
The request was approved to the
tune of $125,000. With funding for
the project, workers have tiled the
The White Falcon
rApens!
floors, covered and extended the
walls, and put in a drop-ceiling.
The major expense was a new heating
ventilation system which will suit
the winter as well as Summer needs
of the building.
"The contract originally ran
through the end of 1980," Mr. Webber
said. "But the contractors had some
favorable luck and were able to
finish by the end of August."
Although the heating unit and a
few fixtures haven't arrived yet,
the grand opening will go ahead as
scheduled. Mr. Webber explained
that since Toyland's conception,
sales of toys have risen steadily
and in past years they were running
Page 5
out of toys during the Christmas
rush. "Last year our sales went up
402 over what we sold in 1978," Mr.
Webber said. "This year we expect
to sell about $200,000 worth of toys
between September and December."
"I am confident that we will have
more than enough toys for everyone
this year. We ordered much earlier
this year than in the past and a lot
of the toys have already begun to
arrive."
Mr. Webber went on to explain
that a wider variety of toys will be
stocked this year with heavy em-
phasis on electronic toys which have
become popular in the last few
years. "We hope that personnel
notice and appreciate the improve-
ments that were made because we
made them with the customer in
mind," he said.
Warehouse expands
At the time of the new Main Re-
tail Store remodeling, more than one
half of the warehouse space was cut
so the retail store could be expan-
ded. This severly hampered the
receiving procedures and according
to Mr. Webber, it's gotten worse
ever since. "A study was conducted
and it was shown that an Exchange
facility the size of Keflavik's
should have much more warehouse
space than we have," Mr. Webber
said.
"So a request went to the supply
department for the additional space
we required and they made a few of
their aisles a bit narrower and gave
us 4,500 square feet of additional
storage space. Although it's less
than half the footage that we
needed, we were glad to have it and
we will be utilizing the additional
space by October.
Mr. Webber stated that the ad-
ditional space will smooth out the
receiving of merchandise. Presently
due to an influx of Summer, back-to-
school and Christmas items, there
are over fifty 20-foot containers,
holding some $1,500,000 worth of
goods, that are backed up in the
storage yards.
"Until the new space is equipped
the Navy Exchange is still forced
to utilize present facilities and
our personnel are working around the
clock to catch up on the backlog,"
Mr. Webber explained.
Viking renovation
The cafeteria located near the
Post Office in the Viking Mall was
another of the Exchange's make-do
projects. Mr. Webber reports that
it is a credit to the resourceful-
ness of those who begged, borrowed
and stole to open the facility with-
out funding. But makeshift, after
all is still makeshift.
"A complete renovation project
has been approved to convert the
cafeteria into a family restaurant
to give patrons an alternative
eating establishment," he said.
Some of the remodeling has begun
and the renovation is expected to
continue through March of 1981.
Book store
Eight hundred square feet of the
Mini Mart store will be sectioned
off for the construction of a new
book store which will offer paper-
backs, hard-cover novels, and maga-
zines in one convenient facility.
This project is tentatively slated
to be completed by January of 1981.
The Navy Exchange is making posi-
tive efforts to improve its facili-
ties for all NATO Base personnel.
Check it out today.
TOYLAND SET TO REOPEN- - Bcb Webber (at left and top right) checks on
the progress being made in getting Toyland ready for its grand re-
opening .