Walmart reopened its store approximately three months after a criminal shot 22 people and injured many in August.

Workers of the store were all grins and full of enthusiasm, as many conferred up for work at the Cielo Vista location for the first time in nearly 16 weeks.

El Paso resident Leticia Portugal said the re-opening was nothing short of the gathering for her disabled son, Aaron, who has served at Walmart for 20 years.

“He was counting down the man-hours since yesterday,” said Portugal of her son. “He was very enthusiastic.”

As consumers began running into the store, employees greeted them at the entrances with happiness, smiles, and hugs. One of the initial customers inside the store was Jordan Flores. He explained the environment as electric when he stepped in.

“The value of friendship and warmth and kindness that came from the employees comforting on the customers coming back or coming for the first time — it’s an astonishing feeling,” said Flores.

It was a source of amusement for him, but he said the Aug. 3 mass shooting would always be remembered in the city.

“Definitely not going to be misremembered,” he said. “We just have to make something positive out of something negative.”

Others described the re-opening of the location as wrong. It was a suggestion for Robert Ceballos of how many lives were taken there beginning this year; and how many people are still striving to get over that feeling on that day.

“Sadly, I remember where some of the areas of where the struggles occurred and passing by them…it’s just sad,” said Ceballos. “We’ve gone over it, but there are still individuals recovering, and there are still people experiencing from this.”

Walmart had been going to renovate the Cielo Vista store for months. The company announced the opening would not be a celebratory occasion, but a possibility for it to give employees the changes its made inside and externally to the facility.

That introduces a new onsite memorial Walmart has designed called “The Grand Candela,” which will praise the sacrifices of the El Paso mass shooting.

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