A Big Lots will be arriving to Chesapeake in the coming weeks. The store will be opening up at the Chesapeake Center off of Portsmouth Boulevard.

Construction for the 30,000-square-foot building began the last week of June, according to Dave Smith, superintendent at Simmons Construction, who is heading the project. Smith expects construction to be complete by this week. The official opening date is expected to be shortly afterward.

The property was once part of a K-Mart store. The building adjacent to the Big Lots — which is currently a Gabe’s, a department store — was also part of the K-Mart.

“This is good for the shopping center,” Smith said. “They are looking to update it.”

A few miles down the road, the Big Lots on Airline Boulevard is going out of business and will close in October. There are plans to move employees from the store to the new location.

Despite the transition, the new location is still hiring. The positions available are sales associates, stockers, cashiers and furniture sales associates.

Rob Heuneman, owner of Rob Heuneman Plastering and Stucco, is currently handling repairs and exterior painting for most of the strip mall. Last summer, they had painted the Gabe’s store.

“All this was empty for years,” Heuneman said. “But, it doesn’t look like there will be any empty spaces left.”

Within the last several years, new businesses and construction has emerged in response to the growing Western Branch community.

According to data on the Shopping Center Group’s website, close to 187,000 people live within a seven-mile radius of the center, an increase from 168,478 in 2000.