WASILLA — There’s a buzz at Fred Meyer, and for the first time in eight months, it’s not caused by droning power tools and construction crews.

Kicking off it grand re-opening Friday, the Wasilla Fred Meyer store has new life, said store manager Bill Birky. It’s bigger, more spacious and has a more customer-friendly flow.

“It was all about trying to create a visual feeling that you can see just about everywhere in the store,” he said of the 10,000-square-foot expansion, which swelled the store to 186,000 square feet. “We added, basically, 52 feet on the end of the building.”

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman Shoppers walk the wider aisles Friday created by a 10,000-square-foot addition to the Wasilla Fred Meyer store.

While 10,000 square feet may not seem like much compared to a 176,000-square-foot layout — about a 5 percent increase — it’s what the store has done with that extra space that makes a world of difference, Birky said.

“Before, the were aisles in the store where two carts could barely get past (each other),” he said. “Now, our display aisle down the center is 21.5 feet wide, when it used to be about 15. Now all the aisles are 7.5 feet wide at their smallest.”

It’s that extra space, along with eliminating visual impairments, that makes the new Fred Meyer a good experience, said Terrie Woods, who spent part of Friday afternoon shopping at the store.

“It really seems bigger, and it’s cleaner,” she said. “We just got here and our niece went right into the face painting. Now, we’re going to go explore. I really like it. It’s open and you’re not, like, going through a maze anymore.”

For employees, the grand re-opening is a chance to get back to business as usual, Birky said.

“It’s really been very busy today,” he said. “It’s great being back to playing store. That’s what we call it when not having construction anymore. Now we’re just playing store. It’s pleasant to just be able to take care of the customers the best way we can.”

Since construction began in March, it’s been a challenge to operate business as usual with a large hole in the side of the building, he said.

“It’s very difficult to maintain your corporate standards while customers are shopping (with construction going on),” Birky said. “I’m really thankful for those customers who hung in there with us. That’s why this was done, to make the store better for customers.”

Wasilla resident Donza Short is one of those loyal customers. At the deli counter, she raved about the spacious aisles and the new salad bar.

“I come here a lot and I think this is just great,” she said. “They have really cleaned it up and made it more accessible. You can see a lot more when you walk through, it’s a lot more roomy. And I love the salad bar.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.