Borders to Consolidate Warehouses

by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 1/31/2005

As part of its effort to improve its operating efficiency, Border Group is consolidating distribution centers in Indiana and Pennsylvania into one larger facility in North Middletown, Pa. Borders will close its 96,000-sq.-ft. facility in Fishers, Ind., and its 125,000-sq.-ft. plant in Middletown, Pa., shifting the inventory to a 600,000-sq.-ft. warehouse in North Middletown. Borders expects to begin operating from its new location in 2006, at which time it plans to shut the Middletown center. The Fisher facility, which employs about 100 people, will be closed by mid-2007.

Borders spokesperson Beth Bingham said stores serviced by the Indianapolis center will be served by the new Pennsylvania location as well as by the company's distribution center in Nashville, Tenn. When the North Middletown center is operational, it will serve 220 Walden stores and 190 Borders locations; the current facility serves only 105 Borders. All employees at the Middletown warehouse will be offered the chance to move to the new facility, which will eventually employ 300 people.

Steve Alexander, Borders v-p of distribution and logistics, said that "over the coming years," Borders intends to have fewer but larger distribution centers, with a concentration in the East. In addition to the Nashville, Middletown and Fishers centers, Borders has facilities in Mira Loma, Calif., and Columbus, Ohio.