A Cocoa Beach grocery store badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew last fall reopened Wednesday after months of rebuilding and remodeling.
- Cocoa Beach Winn-Dixie reopened Wednesday
- Store was badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew
- Store was completely rebuilt and remodeled
Some 250 patrons were in line when the doors opened at 9 a.m. at the city's only Winn-Dixie. Thousands have come in all day long, looking forward to groceries and giveaways.
It's a brand new building, and a hundred people are back to work months after the hurricane swept through.
"After Hurricane Matthew, the place was absolutely decimated," Southeastern Grocers CEO Anthony Hucker said.
As the storm skirted the coast, the strong winds and rain had its way with the store on State Road A1A. It ravaged the building, forcing it to close, and left 100 workers of out of jobs.
The company says it heard its customers, and made the decision to rebuild.
"Everything is new," sayid Hucker.
The store touts brand new refrigeration systems, a new deli, produce section and state-of-the-art checkouts.
And of course, a beach product area -- one block away from the sand.
"This is my store. Winn-Dixie is my store," said customer Tracy Smith, who moved to Cocoa Beach from South Florida in 2005 after dealing with the hurricanes of the mid-2000s.
"It's beautiful, they did a fantastic job. My produce guy is back," Smith said with a smile.
Many of those 100 workers are also back.