An estimated 900 shoppers shuffled through the new Foodland Farms at Ala Moana Center within the first hour on opening day Wednesday.

“It’s been wild. It is the largest ever,” said Jenai Wall, chief executive officer of Foodland Super Market Ltd. “It’s been so exciting to see people coming in — a lot of them old customers who are coming back. Some of them are asking for old employees working in the store. They’re telling us that they were waiting for us to come back.”

Foodland, one of the mall’s original tenants in 1959, left the center in 2014, citing higher rents that ultimately led executives of Hawaii’s oldest grocery chain to decide not to renew its lease. The new store with 150 employees is three times the size of the original location.

“The old Ala Moana store had the highest customer count of all of our stores, but people couldn’t do all their shopping so the average transaction size was smaller,” Wall said. “Now you can come in for lunch and also do all your shopping here. We’re hoping it’ll be our busiest store.”

The flagship location is the only supermarket in Ala Moana. Foodland’s largest store, measuring 47,000 square feet, is on the ground level beneath the new Nordstrom on Pii­koi Street.

New offerings include shave ice, made-to-order pizza and a full bar. The supermarket also offers a concierge and will-call service for customers to have their groceries held for pickup at a later time.

“This is the best supermarket in all of Hawaii by far,” said Nuuanu resident Byron Graper. “This store is incredible. The variety is phenomenal. They make Whole Foods look like an old operation.”

Ala Moana resident Robert Shelton, 54, was impressed with the new concept for Foodland, which includes hundreds of prepared and made-to-order foods and a 100-seat eating area.

“It’s something new for Hawaii. It’s a different concept when they have like a bar and everything compared to the other Foodlands,” he said. “It’s completely different (from the original Ala Moana store). It’s apples and oranges. They have different concessions of food and much more fresh items in store compared to the other ones. Parking might be a little bit of an issue because they have the Shirokiya food court across from here. They’re probably giving a little bit of competition to Whole Foods.”

Honolulu resident Conney Hanchett, 49, added that it is much more convenient for shoppers to have a grocery store in the mall.

“It’s actually a lot better. It’s convenient now,” she said. “I can go do my banking. I can go to the mall and … I don’t have to do an extra stop now.”

Yacht Harbor Tower residents Dan and Tina Shepherd, who don’t have a car and normally walk blocks to get to Safeway, were ecstatic that a grocery store opened in their neighborhood.

“It’s gorgeous. It’s a little pricey on some stuff, but other stuff was pretty good,” Tina said. “This is going to be a lot more convenient. This is absolutely lovely. There’s so many things to choose from. You don’t just have three bananas and two rotten tomatoes.”