NEW LONDON -- The Naval Submarine Base New London hosted a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Navy Exchange on Thursday.
Shoppers were welcomed to experience the new and improved store.
“We shop a lot for clothing, the kids clothing, household goods, they always have better prices than out in the town,” Shannon Kelly said.
The expansion of the NEX offers a brand new food court, a brand new escalator, and an extensive first floor retail collection.
The $13 million project also consolidated the lawn and garden seasonal departments as well as the entire former package store into a new main store.
The exchange serves at least 7,500 people locally and more than 20,000 regionally. It offers service members, their families as well as veterans, a place to shop with discounts and no state tax.
Shopper said they look forward to the added convenience.
“It’s a lot more efficient. Everything is together, it has the first and second floor, before it was spread across the base in different locations and now everything is local,” Active Duty LTSC Active Duty Service member Joshua Kelly said.