NAS JRB Exchange Family Comes Together When Flooding Strikes

Water, rather than merchandise, occupies major space in the main store after a water pipe busted, shutting down the facility for five days.

In tough times, family looks after family. That was no truer than recently at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth Exchange.

A major pipe burst on May 11, sending water cascading throughout the 36,000-square-foot main store—up to 2 inches deep in some places—and closing the store for five days. Associates banded together to look after each other and their “home,” epitomizing the Exchange core values “Family Serving Family” and “Courage to Use Good Judgment.”

The team worked to get the store open for business May 16, although a return to normalcy may take at least two months, General Manager Lynn Thompson said.

“Associates were pushing water out the back door—that’s how bad it was,” Thompson said. “My associates have real ownership of the store and reacted as if it was their home. The entire team is so happy that we are back up and running. This team took ownership like you wouldn’t believe.”

Stockroom Manager Sandi Hudson and an installation public works officer move a big-screen television away from one of the store’s flooded areas.

Saving the Exchange hundreds of thousands of dollars

Thompson credited the NAS JRB Exchange team with saving the Exchange from hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses by moving merchandise away from the flooded areas or across the parking lot to the BXMart. The main store lost about 7,500 square feet of sales floor space.

Sales losses during the five days the store, food court and concessions were closed reached $276,000.

To Assistant Store Manager Rene Garrett, the collaboration showed the Exchange’s character of Family Serving Family, from base personnel to store associates to people from HQ in Dallas.

“The quick response to save merchandise, plus the diligent effort to push forward and get the store operational, showed just how passionate this team is,” Garrett said.

‘True partnership’

COL Juan Saldivar, the Exchange’s command engineer, who visited the store amid the flooding, said the base civil engineer started immediately to develop plans for a comprehensive assessment by architects and engineers. The structural and air-quality study will lead to appropriate action for a permanent fix, Saldivar said.

“We at the Exchange can’t be successful in our mission unless we work in a true partnership with our installation hosts,” he said. “When disaster strikes and the chips are down is when it’s most important for that teamwork to come to the forefront.

“I am amazed at how quickly everybody at the store jumped into action and did what was supposed to be done during such a trying circumstance. We have work crews on the site and will continue to bring in more crews, as needed, to get the store as back to normal as quickly as possible. But if it wasn’t for the managers and associates at the store, this situation would be much worse from the standpoint of financial losses.”

 One team, one fight—a timeline of events 

• About 8 a.m. May 11, associates discover water forcing its way through the concrete floor in the shoe stockroom.
• Five minutes later, Sales Area Manager Christina Salazar phones General Manager Lynn Thompson at home, telling her about the flooding.
• Salazar calls the installation’s fire department and Department of Public Works.
• Associates began moving merchandise away from the water.
• Thompson contacts Central Regional Vice President Danny Schmidt and Region Facility Manager Robert Suesserman about the flooding.
• 

  Water in the main store was from 1 to 2 inches deep, taking away at least 7,500 square feet of shopping space.

  Schmidt arrives at the NAS JRB Exchange from his office at Fort Hood 150 miles away, assesses the situation and contacts the Fort Hood Exchange to send help to handle merchandise.

• Thompson develops a plan for first responders, who arrived at 8:20 a.m., to remove water from the store as quickly as possible.
• Lee Lubbock, a mechanical equipment foreman in the Real Estate Directorate at HQ, arrives to carrying out the plan.
• Thompson ensures all associates are safe, sending for rain boots, masks and gloves.
• Two to three hours later, the fire department shuts off the water.
• Thompson, Lubbock, Suesserman and first responders survey the store.
• Installation engineers, Thompson and Suesserman determine 7,500 square feet of merchandise must be cleared to avoid water damage.
• Thompson calls Waco Distribution Center Assistant Manager Yongie Raines, whose team ships containers to the store for storing merchandise.
• The Logistics Directorate hauls merchandise to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston and Fort Hood.
• Associates move the infants and toddlers’ department to the BXtra across the parking lot. The next day, four associates from Fort Hood arrive to organize the department.
• Shirley Strano, the Merchandising Directorate’s director of planning, allocation and replenishment, and Diane Frye, the planning, allocation and replenishment manager, arrive to see what vendor orders needed to be halted so no additional merchandise arrives.
• Ronald McDuffie, chief region business officer, and Robert Woods, region retail program specialist, also arrive to help.

“I am so grateful to the many people who helped us in our time of need,” Thompson said. “The work that everybody did was the perfect example of Family Serving Family, and that will continues even today.”