Hundreds of people turned out in mass Wednesday evening to viewBrookhaven’s newest home improvement retailer, Home Depot.

Located at the west end of Brookway Boulevard at 101 StriblingRoad, the store, which was scheduled to open at 6 p.m. for aspecial “neighborhood night,” opened its doors an hour early toaccommodate the crowds of people awaiting a sneak preview of thestore.

Store manager Greg Newman, said the Brookhaven location is a newconcept store for Home Depot. Several upgrades have been made tothe store layout, which make it unique among Home Depot stores, hesaid.

Among the enhancements is a drive-through lumber yard, a largeautomotive section, complete with ATV parts and accessories, anddog and cat food. In an effort to provide better customer service,Newman said call boxes in each department allow customers to push abutton and reach Home Depot associates, who wear radios on theirshoulders.

The store also contains a Value Valley, located in the center ofthe store, which is unique to the Brookhaven store. It containsfishing supplies, snacks, food items, and other discounteditems.

“The store belongs to all of you,” Newman told the crowd, duringgrand-opening remarks.

Newman bragged on the store’s 70-plus associates. Hecomplimented them on their ability to go from a virtually emptybuilding to a completely stocked store in six weeks, with noaccidents.

Mayor Bob Massengill was called on stage to help dedicate thestore. He expressed his, the city’s and the county’s appreciationto Home Depot for coming to Brookhaven and Lincoln County.Massengill also joked with the store manager about possibly needinga larger parking lot.

During grand-opening ceremonies Newman also made a $2,000presentation to the Brookhaven Junior Auxiliary. Laurie Sullivan,auxiliary past president, said the funds will be used to helpchildren, which is the group’s main goal.

Newman said this morning that he estimates close to 1,000 peopleattended Wednesday night’s event. He said the last customer leftaround 10:30 p.m., an hour and a half past the store’s scheduled 9p.m. closing.

“We had a great turnout,” he said.

Store hours are 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and8 a.m. until 7 p.m. Sunday.