Florence at a Crossroads for Distributors
Published Apr 17, 2008
David E. Foster oversees QVC’s new 1.4-million-square-foot facility as general manager of distribution and administration.
Shipping more than 100 million packages a year makes efficient distribution essential for the QVC television-shopping network.
The “C” in QVC stands for convenience, something the company discovered in abundance when it opened its newest distribution center in July 2007 in Florence County. The 1.4 million-square-foot facility could employ as many as 1,200 people within two years.
The TV Road location near the junction of Interstates 20 and 95 – two of America’s most significant east-west and north-south highways – might have made the South Carolina selection a no-brainer.
But Florence County offered even more, with a pledge to build nearly $400 million worth of additional highway projects over the next decade – including the widening of TV Road for four miles leading to I-95.
“We’re excited,” state Sen. Hugh Leatherman Sr. says of QVC’s decision to locate in the county.
“On the final day when we talked to them to convince them to come here, this (road plan) was part of the final negotiations. It absolutely made a difference.”
Now, Leatherman adds, “we’re looking for other distribution centers to come here in the future.”
Florence County’s transportation infrastructure – already impressive and destined to become even better – is proving to be a magnet for other corporations, too.
In February 2007, Johnson Controls opened a 330,000-square-foot assembly and distribution center that will make and ship 8 million automotive and marine batteries annually when it reaches peak production in 2008.
“Certainly, transportation is key because of the proximity to I-95 going north and south and I-20 going west,” says Sarah Caggiano, plant manager.
Johnson Controls bought a speculative building completed by a private developer in Pee Dee Touchstone Energy Commerce City, a 705-acre commercial park just north of the QVC site.
Also at Commerce City, FedEx opened an 87,000-square-foot distribution center in 2007, IFH Foodservice Distribution unveiled a $39 million facility spanning more than 300,000 square feet in 2006 and Crenlo manufactures truck cabs in a 236,000-square-foot building.
Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, with 30,000 customers in the Florence area, opened the park in 2000 with a vision that seamless utility services and ideal transportation access would woo companies and create hundreds of quality jobs.
“The whole methodology behind it was to have sites that are shovel-ready,” says Brian Kelley, vice president of marketing for the energy company, “so that when somebody comes to town, you’re not having to deal with all the locations or guess at what the utilities are. Everything is in place. We wanted this to be a showpiece for Florence County.”
Story by Gary Perilloux
Photo by Ian Curcio
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