Payless ShoeSource, Inc. plans to locate its eastern distribution center in Brookville, Ohio, a community 15 miles west of Dayton, as part of its dual distribution center plan announced earlier this year aimed at enhancing the logistical efficiency and quickening the time-to-market for the retailer's products.
The new 600,000-square-foot facility will be located in the Northbrook Industrial Park and will be developed by Clayco, Inc. to Payless' specifications including advanced distribution center technology. Payless plans to lease and operate the new distribution center and expects to create about 300 new jobs.
The area was chosen for its superior site, well-suited geographic location, economic terms, strong support infrastructure and productive workforce — all critical for Payless to get its products to consumers more quickly, especially in the eastern half of the United States, where so many of its stores are located. Other key factors in the location decision included strong support of this project among Brookville, Montgomery County and Ohio officials, as well as supply chain management educational programs offered at Wright State University.
“We are delighted to join the Brookville community and to create new job opportunities in a high-performance work organization at our new distribution center,” said Matt Rubel, chief executive officer and president, Payless ShoeSource. “This new facility is a strategic initiative in our business strategy to enhance Payless' supply chain operation, enabling us to more quickly deliver on-trend, targeted product to our stores and customers. We are pleased to work with the local officials and community, as well as Clayco, on this important project.”
Payless stores are heavily clustered in the more populated coasts and borders of the United States. The Brookville facility will work in conjunction with Payless' new 400,000-square-foot distribution center in Redlands, Calif., to form its dual-center distribution center setup to best serve the ongoing inventory needs of Payless stores. The new Brookville distribution center will serve approximately 2,900 stores located east of the Rocky Mountains, primarily in the United States and Canada.
“This is a unique opportunity to partner with an industry leader to bring 300 new jobs to Ohio,” said Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, who also serves as Director of the Ohio Department of Development. “We appreciate Payless' commitment to our state and are excited that Ohio will be home to the company's largest state-of-the-art distribution center. This announcement provides further proof of the many benefits of doing business in Ohio; with the fourth largest interstate highway system and the fourth largest number of railroad miles in the nation, Ohio is a leading state for logistics, warehousing and distribution.”
According to Clayco, the distribution center construction started with site preparation earlier this month and is expected to take about one year to build. Payless expects to open the new distribution center in the summer of 2008.
