Coast Guard Dedicates New Exchange

The Coast Guard Training Center in Petaluma has a new place for Coast Guard members and their dependants to shop.

The Coast Guard held a dedication ceremony Wednesday at the new $2.75 million Coast Guard Exchange building that is expected to generate an additional $100,000 in revenue to vendors in the community.

Construction started last summer. The new 8,000-square-foot exchange replaces two older facilities and offers expanded merchandise under one roof, Lt. Cmdr Gregory Haas said.

"It has an expanded selection of electronics, including computers and mobile devices, apparel, and groceries," Haas said.

The exchange hired six employees, four of them Coast Guard dependants and two from the local community, Haas said. The new exchange has state-of-the-art retail fixtures and a Coast Guard themed motif, Haas said.

There are more than 400 Coast Guard members and their families living at the training center, Haas said. Veterans and disabled veterans also shop at the 66 Coast Guard exchanges in the United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.