BESSEMER, AL-Dollar General Corp. has elected to build its tenth distribution center here just outside Birmingham. The discount retailer will invest $60 million in the facility, which will be located on a 106-acre site at Alabama 150 and Lakeshore Parkway.
Dollar General has broken ground on the 1-million-square-foot facility, which will eventually employ 650 people. The distribution center is slated to open in February 2012 and will serve 500 stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and other states.
John Flanigan, executive vice president of Dollar General’s global supply chain, says the location is a great strategic fit for the company’s expansion plans. This year, the retailer plans to open about 625 new stores and enter three new states: Connecticut; New Hampshire; and Nevada. Last year, it opened 600 stores. Today, it operates more than 9,300 stores in 35 states.
Currently, Dollar General’s stores are supported by nine distribution centers located strategically throughout the chain’s geographic footprint. The facilities are located in Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia.
It’s been more than five years since Dollar General has opened a new distribution center. The most recent one, located in Marion, IN, became operational in 2006. The 1.1-million-square-foot facility serves 1,000 stores
Of the existing distribution centers, Dollar General owns six and leases the other three. The retailer also leases additional temporary warehouse space to support its distribution needs.
Last year, Dollar General updated its existing distribution facilities with the rollout of a new voice pick system that allows warehouse employees to communicate with warehouse software systems using speech recognition.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
