After a 416-day drought, Elkview finally has its Kroger open once again.
The grocery store at the Crossings Mall shopping center is reopening 9 a.m. Wednesday, and the Kanawha County Commission announced it has declared Aug. 23 "Kroger Day" to celebrate the stores reopening, according to a news release.
It marks the end of a long journey for several Kroger employees who were transferred to other locations after Crossings Mall businesses were marooned after the June 2016 flood washed away the center's culvert bridge. Restoration efforts were stalled as Crossings Mall owner Tara Retail Group entered bankruptcy until a federal bankruptcy judge approved a bridge financing plan.
Michelle Keeling, a customer service manager employed by the location since 2006 (outside of a 3-month stint at another Kroger), said she remembers leaving just 15 minutes before the bridge washed out because of the flooding.
"It was probably the most horrific thing that could've happened to this area," Keeling said of the flood.
Keeling said Kroger was "adamant" about transferring employees to other locations and "everyone that wanted to keep their job kept their job." Ninety-six employees at the Crossings Mall locations were offered positions at area stores, store manager Dan Workman said. About 65 employees are coming back to the Elkview location, he added.
Shortly after the flood, Keeling said Kroger offered her a job to help convert UScans, Kroger's self-checkout machines, at other Kroger locations to new software, she said. That meant traveling to a large chunk of Kroger stores in West Virginia, including Barboursville, Teays Valley and South Charleston locations. She even worked on an Ashland Kroger's software.
Keeling said Kroger compensated every mile, but added that she is looking forward to getting home at a consistent hour.
"They're very happy there aren't any 10- to 12-hour days, now it's back to eight," Keeling said of her six children.
The main access point to Crossings Mall remained impassible until last month. Including Kroger, twenty-three of the 26 businesses open prior to the June 2016 flood are expected to reopen, according to business representatives and rent documents from Tara Retail Group. The Kroger fuel center reopened in late July shortly after a new bridge opened at the mall.
Recent job fairs held by Kroger have helped fill out its Elkview roster, and front-end supervisor Tina Meadows is one of the new additions. Meadows has undergone training over the past few weeks for her position, which makes sure the work flow at the front desk and cash registers goes smoothly, she said.
"It takes a strong group of people to come back to this community and make it better after what happened," Meadows said. "It's all about people helping people."
For Workman, the store's reopening is much welcomed after months of speculation around the future of the shopping center and when businesses would be able to reopen.
"There was a new rumor every week," he said. "There was no significant source as to what [Tara Retail Group] was doing to the bridge. Now we've gotten to the light at the end of the tunnel."
Workman showed off the store's renovations Tuesday, including new shelves and flooring, a revamped produce department and an expanded deli section. The changes aren't drastic, but they are welcome, Workman said.
"[Kroger] would call this a 'refresh remodel,'" he said. "They didn't completely remove compartments or tear down walls."
The stranded inventory needed to be removed from the store to prepare for the renovations, which meant six months of hand-stacking boxes one at a time, Workman said. Store shelves were taken apart in April and contractors began renovations two months later.
Although no one welcomed the delays to the bridge's construction, Workman said it provided a window for Kroger to renovate the store without shutting out customers during the process. Kroger already had considered updating the Crossings Mall location prior to the flood, according to Workman.
"It's very much an inconvenience to customers when we have to go through a remodel being open," he said. "It's a lot quicker of a process being closed and empty than it would have been otherwise."
Another Crossings Mall business also is slated to open this week, as Advance Auto Parts announced its location will reopen Friday. The location will hold a grand opening celebration at 3 p.m. Sept. 1, according to a news release.
Reach Max Garland at max.garland@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @MaxGarlandTypes on Twitter.