THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230493
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
The Fort Story commissary, which has been in operation for 47 years, will close Jan. 1 as part of the Defense Department cost-savings campaign.
Other military stores tabbed for closing include those at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.; Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina; and the Naval Weapons Station at Yorktown.
Defense officials say the closings will produce an estimated $2 million in savings, mainly through deferred renovation, expansion and personnel expenses. Commissaries were identified for closure on the basis of annual sales below $15 million, proximity to other military stores, renovation requirements, size, age and projected active-duty customer base.
Mark Swearengen, spokesman for the Department of Defense Commissary Agency at Fort Lee, Va., said buildings that house the selected stores are old - mostly vintage World War II structures - and need considerable upgrading.
The Fort McNair facility was built in 1920, the one at Fort Story in 1947, the one at Pope in 1942 and at Yorktown in 1944.
Fort Story serves more than 12,000 active-duty and retired military customers a month, Swearengen said.
Customers will be redirected to the commissaries at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base and at Oceana Naval Air Station.
Major Gen. Richard E. Beale Jr., director of the Defense Commissary Agency, sees the closings as a positive step. ``It's actually good business sense to close those which are expensive to operate or need to be modernized,'' he said.
Retired Army man Harry Luman of Virginia Beach, however, offered a different opinion.
``Do you know what this is going to do to smokers?'' he asked. ``Top brands go for $7.50 or $8.50 a carton at Fort Story. At Little Creek, they're going for $15 to $17 a carton. That's why Fort Story was always so crowded. You'd see sailors lining up at the door all the time.''
Luman, however, conceded that he and his wife do most of their shopping at Little Creek because it offers more variety.
Beale said permanent commissary employees will take vacancies at nearby stores, if available. Fort Story personnel will take vacant posts at Little Creek or Oceana. by CNB