By: Brendon Smith, Director of Communications
As Anya mentioned in her GM Report, we’ll be replacing some refrigeration equipment at Willy West in mid-August. We wanted to explain a bit more about what that means for customers during and after the project, as well as the sustainability improvements we’ll get out of it.
Shopping Impact
We expect to close Willy West at 5:00pm on Sunday, August 9, and we plan on reopening the following day at 8:00am. If you’re making a special trip during this time, please check the website or our Instagram or Facebook to see if we’ve had to adjust our timeline as the project gets nearer.
Although the Willy East refrigeration project last year was different, we learned some lessons from it and have changed our approach with this project. The refrigeration work will continue through Thursday, August 13, but we will be able to keep the store open during the work. The following services will be unavailable between Monday August 10 and Thursday August 13:
- Meat & Seafood Service Counters (some packaged meat and seafood will be available)
- Breakfast Hot Bar (it will be open for lunch and dinner!)
- Sushi
There will also be a reduced refrigerated and frozen product selection in some areas.
Changes After the Work is Complete
Once the project is complete, customers will notice two new Produce coolers, some additional space in the Produce department, and one new Meat cooler. These areas will be easier to shop and have more attractive merchandising, and we may be able to add some additional products in the added space. We’ll also be able to refresh the layout of the Refrigerated/Dairy department. Some of the biggest changes won’t be visible, though!
Sustainability
Our new refrigeration system at Willy West will use a refrigerant with a significantly lower (67%) global warming impact than our current system. It also improves energy efficiency by 8–12%, helping reduce electricity use and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from non-solar power we use. (Willy West gets a portion of its power from the solar panels on its roof.)
