Easy Access Makes Catawba Distribution Hub
Published Jul 03, 2008
Interstate 40 provides easy access to suppliers and markets.
The distribution and manufacturing industries that have boosted the Catawba County economy in recent years are showing no signs of a slowdown.
In fact, the county’s broad-based economy continues to experience a growth spurt.
Its reputation as a hub for manufacturing and distribution centers is receiving an extra boost with Target’s plan for a $100 million distribution center, just off U.S. 321 and N.C. 10 in Newton.
Besides the multimillion-dollar investment, the massive project will bring an additional 450 jobs and become one of the largest distribution facilities in the greater Charlotte region when it begins operation in summer 2009.
“When opening a distribution center, we look at accessibility to transportation, availability of skilled workforce and the quality of life in the area,” says Jill Hornbacher, manager of communications for Target.
“Catawba County fits that criteria, and we’re very excited to be opening a distribution center there.”
The Minneapolis-based retailer is the second-largest discount retailer in the country, with nearly 1,591 stores in 47 states nationwide, including more than 210 SuperTarget stores. The company has 31 distribution centers nationwide, Hornbacher says.
Target’s decision to relocate here should send a signal to other companies about the favorable local business climate characterized by a central location with 60 percent of the U.S. population within a day’s drive, a relatively conservative business environment and business costs that are competitive. Catawba County hopes to attract high-tech developments comparable to the multimillion-dollar data center Internet giant Google established in neighboring Caldwell County.
“Target is one of the most recognized brands in corporate America today,” says Scott Millar, president of the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation.
“Anytime someone, particularly someone recognizable, has committed to buy a product, which is this market, then others are validated in their buying decisions. North Carolina is a great state to do business, and we have a diversified manufacturing presence.”
Nearly 36 percent of the county’s residents work in manufacturing, far ahead of the 14 percent national average, Millar says.
“It’s always been a manufacturing-oriented economy here,” he says. “Charlotte has grown as a distribution hub, and there’s a great deal of regional and national distribution happening here. We are really becoming a submarket of Charlotte as well.”
Baker Furniture relocated its corporate headquarters to Hickory from Grand Rapids, Mich., in 2006 and also opened a distribution center, which joined the company’s five existing manufacturing centers in North Carolina.
“We really spent a lot of time trucking products from one state to another,” says Kevin Ward, president of Baker Knapp & Tubbs Inc., which includes Baker Furniture, Baker Knapp & Tubbs Showcases, and Baker Stores.
“We decided to look for a centralized single distribution center that could be very close to our manufacturing facilities, and Hickory seemed to be a centralized location that was convenient to major thoroughfares and interstates.”
Baker, a wood-and-upholstered furniture manufacturer, is part of the Kohler Interiors Group and is a subsidiary of Kohler, Wis.-based Kohler Co.
Besides location, resources were another factor that lured Baker Furniture to the area. The furniture, textile and fiber-optic cable industries all experienced a decline in the late 1990s, focusing changes in the area’s economic climate.
“By the vacating of several companies within specific industries, it left some modern buildings that were used in the marketplace, that could be easily converted to distribution centers or manufacturing facilities as needed,” Ward says. “There was a pool of skilled labor in the area that we thought we would be able to attract, which has been successful.”
Story by Nancy DeVille
Photo by Ian Curcio
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