Safeway holds grand re-opening

More than 100 shoppers waited for their chance to get a hold of some bargains Sunday morning as Safeway staff and dignitaries cut the ribbon to officially re-open the expanded store here.
The turnout for the brief ceremony came as a pleasant surprise to store manager Paul Miller, whose staff had been gearing up for the event all week.
“It was very successful [and] we had a little bigger crowd than what I expected,” he said Monday.
Miller added the newly-expanded store put it on the map in terms of interior design. “There are very few stores in Canada that have this type of decor package and shelf lineup,” he noted.
The Bank of Montreal also is slated to open a financial outlet at the store sometime during the first quarter of 1999.
Also on hand for the re-opening were Mayor Glenn Witherspoon, Safeway district manager Mark Caddick, Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce president Dr. Bruce Lidkea, and representatives from local MPP Howard Hampton’s office and the Riverside Foundation for Health Care.
Foundation chairman Clare Brunetta and Joan Allison, chair of the fundraising committee, accepted a cheque for $13,835 from Miller and assistant manager Dale Fortes.
The money was raised primarily by Safeway staff through a number of fundraisers over the year.
“The final figure turned out to be more than we thought,” Brunetta noted yesterday. “We had originally expected something in the neighbourhood of $10,000.”
Brunetta also gave kudos to Allison for the success she brought to the fundraising project.
“She was the main liaison [between Safeway and the Foundation], and was the one who did all the organizing of volunteers,” he stressed.