Manassas Giant shows new look

A Manassas Giant Food grocery store will have a "coming-back-out" party Friday after a 12-week renovation project.

There will be hotdogs, balloons, face-painting and prizes. Even a handful of local and state officials will welcome the shoppers.

The open house marks the end of a multi-million dollar renovation to the store at the Wellington Station Shopping Center, 10100 Dumfries Road.

Customers will see a revamped store with significantly improved produce and perishables department offerings, company officials said.

"We are excited about the renovation of the Manassas Giant as part of our three-year Project Refresh invest-ment plan to remodel or replace about 100 Giant stores," said Robin Michel, executive vice president and general manager.

The newly remodeled 67,000-square-foot store features improvements to the produce and perishable departments, as well as a new interior décor, including new store signs and larger food and pharmacy departments.

The facility also includes an expanded selection of natural and organic foods as well as an expanded ethnic section containing a variety of Hispanic, Thai and Asian food selections, according to

store management.

There are also a number of new conveniences and

technological improvements such as a new convenience meal area where customers will find ready to go foods such as sandwiches, salads and sushi. "Deli Vision" is an easy-to-use kiosk where customers place their deli orders then pick them up when they're finished shopping.

"Our Manassas customers will find that their Giant has a brighter, fresher new look along with numerous improvements that will simplify their lives," said store manager Jerry Trevino.

Giant will host a grand reopening ribbon cutting at 8 a.m. Friday and activities will take place throughout the day and will include entertainment, food sampling, prizes, reusable bag give-aways, and face painting activities for children. Proceeds from a two-day hot dog and soda sidewalk sale will benefit Securing Emergency

Resources through Volunteer Efforts, a Manassas-area charity.

Giant Food, headquartered in Landover, Md., operates 184 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Dis-trict of Columbia and employs about 21,000 people.

About 20 new jobs have been created in the remodeled store, managers said.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at (703) 369-6707.