Florence’s Location Makes Distribution a Snap
Published Dec 02, 2008
Florence’s location and proximity to ports make it a distribution natural.
Once QVC Inc. tuned in to Florence County, the area’s logistical advantages helped make the sale.
The home-shopping giant opened a distribution facility in Florence in July 2007 and joined an ever-growing list of companies lured to the Pee Dee Region by its strategic location on the East Coast and its first-class transportation options.
David Foster, QVC general manager, says Florence’s location at the confluence of Interstates 95 and 20 and proximity to Atlantic ports was “one of the three reasons why we actually came to Florence.” The other two were a ready workforce and a welcoming community, he adds.
With a workforce of nearly 500, QVC in Florence pushes about 420,000 packages out the door monthly. Foster says the facility will be QVC’s distribution model of the future. “We will go through a couple of more phases of very large automation projects, and then we will become the high-speed fulfiller of orders within the network,” he says.
QVC’s success in Florence County doesn’t surprise Drew Chaplin, managing partner and broker-in-charge at Palmetto Commercial Real Estate.
Chaplin represented the landowner in negotiations with QVC. “Florence is fairly unique in many ways – and I’m talking about both Carolinas and a good part of the Southeast,” he says.
Florence County’s easy access via highways, rail and air is a top selling point, coupled with a regional population approaching 700,000 that also is attracting retail.
“Regional and local retail is as strong as it’s ever been. Our retail has doubled in square footage in the last decade, and I tell everyone that we will not recognize Florence 10 years from now,” Chaplin says.
George Wilds, managing director of Coldwell Banker Commercial, says Florence’s location and transportation conveniences also make the area appealing to enterprises with coastal clients, particularly in the Myrtle Beach area.
“The growth in Grand Strand markets and the consequent costs of doing business down there as far as land and labor are concerned have not hurt us at all,” he says. “Folks who want to do business in the Grand Strand area are going to find it less costly to have their facilities inland, and this is just a real logical place for them.”
The Pee Dee Electric Cooperative boasts several distribution-related tenants in its 714-acre Pee Dee Commerce City industrial park. The latest is Pepsi Cola, which opened a 155,000-square-foot distribution center in May 2008.
“Our park has a mile and a half of frontage on I-95 and we are nine miles from where I-20 begins,” E. LeRoy “Toy” Nettles Jr., president and CEO of Pee Dee Electric, says about Commerce City.
“You can say the word ‘location’ just as many times as you want to say it, because we are within 10 miles of the midway point between New York City and Miami,” he says.
Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
Photo by Todd Bennett
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