Florence

South Carolina is not a big state, ranking 40th in the nation in terms of square miles, but it does not come up short on transportation assets. Interstate 95, a major north-south artery, alone spans 207 miles. I-20, I-26 and I-85 also traverse the state.

Florence County has direct access to I-20 and I-95. Combine that with four major U.S. highways, rail service, a commercial service airport, nearly 20 trucking and freight firms and easy access to ports in Charleston and Georgetown, and Florence County is a distributor’s dream.

 QVC Inc., a giant multimedia global retailer, opened a 1.4 million-square-foot distribution center in Florence in 2007. An estimated 1.8 million packages leave its warehouses each year at a rate of 1,000 an hour.

The Florence facility was the company’s fifth U.S. distribution center, and it specializes in storing and shipping exercise equipment, small appliances, electronics and apparel.

Pepsi Cola Bottling Co. of Florence opened a 155,000-square-foot distribution center in the Pee Dee Touchstone Commerce City Industrial Park. Pepsi has been in the community since the 1930s; the new facility allowed it to consolidate workers at one location and expand distribution operations.

“All the infrastructure was here and there is really good access in and out,” says Frank Avent, president and CEO.

The Pepsi distributorship has 32 trucks of its own. Pee Dee Food Service, a company also operated by Avent that does full-line vending, has another 25 for the 31 routes it operates in the Carolinas. The companies didn’t need frontage on I-95 with visibility as much as they needed space to keep the trucks moving in and products moving out.

“This fits us well,” says Avent, adding that Pepsi has room to expand when it needs to.

The central location fits the needs of other big players, too. Institutional Food House Inc., a large food distributor, employs 200 at its Florence facility. Johnson Controls Inc. is building a $100 million car battery recycling facility that will create 250 new jobs.

Located off U.S. Highway 76 on Paper Mill Road, the facility and parking will take up about 36 acres.

“The proposed Florence facility will be the most innovative battery recycling operation in the world,” says Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson Controls Power Solutions. “Our closed-loop system is state of the art.”

Johnson already has a huge presence in the region, with more than 1,000 employees at an existing distribution center in Florence and a manufacturing facility in Oconee.

The battery facility will recycle 10 million units a year, says Tom Kinard, manager of business development at Pee Dee Electric Cooperative.

Chances are, some of those same batteries came from vehicles not too far away.

“Sixty-eight percent of the U.S. population is within a day’s drive,” Kinard says.