Dive Brief:
- Dollar General has completed construction on a new, nearly 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Longview, Texas, according to the Longview News-Journal.
- The Texas location is one of two new distribution centers the company plans to open in 2019 to help reduce transportation cost. The other center will be located in Amsterdam, New York, according to the company's most recent earning's call.
- The Longview location will employ about 100 full-time workers when it opens this year and could employ nearly 400 by 2022, the News-Journal reported.
Dive Insight:
More distribution centers in strategic locations mean fewer miles driven — and fewer dollars spent (Dollar General hopes).
"Starting with distribution and transportation, we continue to focus on reducing stem miles, improving load optimization, growing and diversifying our carrier base, and expanding our private fleet," Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said on a December earning's call.
The company's private tractor fleet grew from 80 at the end of 2017 to 200 at the end of 2018. The increase covers about 10% of its outbound freight, Vasos said on the call.
These changes to the company's freight and logistics are happening at the same time it plans to expand store locations across the county. It opened 750 new stores in the first three quarters of 2018 and plans to open another 975 new stores in 2019, Vasos said.
