WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — The wait is finally over for residents as staff of the new United Supermarket at Southwest Parkway and Kemp finish the final preparations to make sure the store is ready to open to the public.

The more than 150 employees were working nonstop Tuesday getting the store ready as they celebrate all the hard work put in over the past couple of years.

Since announcing that the new store was coming back in April of last year, President of the United Family Sydney Hopper said this day was highly anticipated by not only residents but staff as well.

“Wichita Falls has been probably one of our oldest regions United has operated in. It’s a great community for us. Wichita Falls continues to grow, and we’ll just grow along with it,” Hopper said.

This new United Supermarket deemed a next-gen store, comes with a full Texas Kitchen cafe, sushi made in-house, and a bakery, as well as many other convenient amenities.

“You’re going to have more specialty items, a larger selection in the meat and seafood department, almost 2,000 wine selections. So, not a full-blown Market Street, but you’ll get a little of that feeling here as well,” Hopper said.

Store Director Mitchell Veitenheimer has been working locally with United for more than four decades and said when he was given the chance to oversee the new location, he had to jump on the opportunity.

“I really wanted to be a part of something new in Wichita Falls and part of something in this community and this area, this location hasn’t had a really nice store in a long time so I felt like this would be a perfect opportunity for me to beautify this corner and to make a presence for United,” Veitenheimer said.

Veitenheimer said it’s the guests that visit the stores throughout his 44-year career that have kept him around for so long.

“It’s just the family united is family-oriented. I feel like it’s my second family. They’ve always treated me really well, and in turn, I treat our team members and our guests the same,” Veitenheimer said.

This is exactly what Veitenheimer said guests can expect to be treated as when they walk through the doors once opened, like family.

A ribbon cutting was held Tuesday morning with Wichita Falls city leaders as well as media attending. But Wednesday morning starting bright and early at 6 a.m., the public is welcome to check out the brand new next-gen United Supermarket as they will finally be open to the public.