Arcadia Publishing hit its sales budget for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, and made investments in new systems that laid the groundwork for future growth, CEO David Steinberger said in a letter to employees. The company also achieved another of its first year goals, acquiring another publisher—albeit slightly past the end of the fiscal year—when it agreed to buy Pelican Publishing in early April.

Steinberger, with the financial backing of Michael and Lili Lynton, acquired Arcadia last May. He said Arcadia will continue to look for additional acquisitions as well as for new areas of growth. To that end, he announced a number of new hires and promotions, as well as the publisher's intention to outsourcing Arcadia’s warehousing function.

Among the new hires is someone returning to Arcadia. Christen Thompson will be rejoining the company on April 29 in the newly created position of director of special projects. She had been an editor at the publisher, and is now also the co-owner of the North Charleston bookstore Itinerate Literate, which opened last year. A second person returning to the company is Cameron Haines, who is now production editor.

On the sales side, Leigh Scott will take on the newly created role of independent sales manager for strategic growth and will be the team leader for Arcadia’s field sales reps. Newly promoted are Mike Nieken, who is now independent sales manager east, and Elysia Walton who is now independent sales manager west.

The outsourcing of its warehousing operation was brought on by two factors, Steinberger said. Arcadia’s warehouse had been sold prior to the acquisition of the company, and Steinberger was looking for a place that could accommodate Arcadia’s growth. As a result, Arcadia has signed a contract with RRD, which has long been its printer through its Wentworth facility in Columbia, S.C., to now also handle warehousing for Arcadia, which is located in nearby Mount Pleasant, S.C. The decision to sign with RRD came after “a year-long process of evaluating our different options for how best to move forward," Steinberger wrote.

The move to the new warehouse is expected to be completed by the summer. Steinberger noted that “every member of our warehouse team will be invited to interview to join the expanded team at Wentworth.”