Family Dollar Reopens DC After Rodent Infestation
Family Dollar now has a timetable for when it will reopen a distribution center that it was forced to close in May 2022 after a rodent infestation.
The Dollar Tree-owned company’s new West Memphis, Ark. warehouse is scheduled to be fully operational by fall 2024. The revamped facility cost approximately $100 million and is expected to supply up to 1,000 stores in the region. The distribution center will create more than 300 new jobs for Arkansas workers when it first reopens, with plans to add more in the coming years.
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The 850,000-square-foot facility will include a full interior demolition and remodel, with new features like added building-wide temperature control, automated LED lighting, racking, expanded associate amenities and office space.
“This is more than a reopening, it’s a transformation. Our West Memphis facility will have a full interior demolition and wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling rebuild,” said Mike Kindy, executive vice president and chief supply chain officer, Dollar Tree, Inc. “This integral distribution center will drive industry-leading product safety standards, offer an excellent employment experience, strengthen our bonds with the community and better support our Family Dollar stores who depend on us throughout the region.”
After several inspections from 2020 to 2022, Family Dollar got itself in hot water when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the discount retailer’s rodent infestation violated the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Following a facility fumigation between Jan. 16-20, 2022, approximately 1,100 rodent carcasses were removed.
Family Dollar voluntarily recalled certain products stored and shipped to 404 stores from Jan. 1, 2021, through March 18, 2022, because of the rodent activity. In February 2022, Family Dollar temporarily closed the stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
All Family Dollar and Dollar Tree distribution centers are Good Distribution Practices certified by an independent third-party auditor, the company said.
Dollar Tree, Inc., the parent company of Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, recently agreed to a corporate-wide settlement with another federal agency breathing down its neck: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The company was cited for 403 OSHA store safety violations from more than 360 inspections at Family Dollar and Dollar Tree stores since 2017. Under the OSHA settlement, Dollar Tree now has to conduct a comprehensive, nationwide assessment of the root causes of the violations, and make operational changes to correct them within two years.
As part of the settlement, Dollar Tree is paying $1.35 million in penalties to settle contested and open inspections and similar alleged violations.
While the Family Dollar location breaks ground, Walmart announced plans to open its fifth U.S. “next-generation” fulfillment center in Stockton, Calif., in 2026. The new 900,000-square-foot facility located—about 50-miles south of Sacramento—will help the retailer to fulfill West Coast online orders with next- or two-day shipping.
The first location opened in summer 2022 in Joliet, Ill., servicing Midwestern customers in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Along with a recently opened facility in McCordsville, Ind., the two other next-gen warehouses will open in Lancaster, Texas and Greencastle, Pa.
Combined with the rest of Walmart’s fulfillment network, the automated fulfillment centers will enable the retailer to reach 95 percent of the U.S. population with next- or two-day shipping. Walmart Fulfillment Services, Walmart’s end-to-end third-party fulfillment service, will also use the space to fulfill third-party Marketplace items.
The high-tech facility will feature an automated, high-density storage and retrieval system from intelligent warehouse solutions company Knapp that streamlines a manual, 12-step process down to five steps: unloading, receiving, picking, packing and shipping customer purchases. The new technology allows for double the storage capacity and twice the number of customer orders Walmart can fulfill in a day.
The Stockton fulfillment center will employ more than 1,000 staff. Walmart will hire for a variety of positions, including tech-focused jobs.
“The announcement of our high-tech fulfillment center in Stockton commemorates yet another significant stride in our omni-channel retail efforts,” said Karisa Sprague, senior vice president, fulfillment network pperations for Walmart U.S. “In response to increasing customer demand for online shopping, we are implementing technology to enhance delivery speed and accuracy for our customers, all the while creating new and exciting technology-empowered career paths for our associates.”
Walmart has made significant investments in its fulfillment and delivery capabilities in recent years. Third-party drivers in the retail giant’s Spark delivery network tripled from June 2022 to June 2023, covering 84 percent of U.S. households with 17,000 pick-up points. The company also recently expanded its store-to-door Express Delivery service to 10 p.m.
