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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Texas and Pennsylvania Site of Walmart’s Newest Distribution Centers

10/01/2013
Fort Worth, Texas and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania are the site of Walmart’s two new distribution centers, dedicated to filling online orders.

The new center based in Fort Worth, Texas, is 800,000 sq. ft. and will have 275 full-time positions. It began shipping orders last week. The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, operation, its largest ever, will be more than 1-million sq. ft. and will ultimately employ more than 350 full-time associates. It is scheduled to open in the first quarter of next year. Combined, the new operations will house hundreds of thousands of items ranging from electronics, to toys, apparel, fitness equipment, sporting goods and more.

According to the firm, “these two new online fulfillment centers are just part of a next-generation fulfillment network that will deliver U.S. customer orders faster and at a lower cost. In addition to these new and existing facilities dedicated to online orders, Walmart is uniquely positioned to ship online orders from stores and many of its more than 130 distribution centers, all leveraging its world-class transportation network. The new online facilities extend Walmart’s anytime, anywhere experience that lets customers shop seamlessly across online, mobile and stores.”

“With our dedicated online facilities and 4,100 stores within five miles of two-thirds of the U.S. population, we gain a significant advantage by being positioned in the most important location – close to our customers,” said Joel Anderson, President and CEO of Walmart.com. “This unique combination allows us to get more products to our customers faster and at a lower cost.”

"I want to thank and congratulate Walmart on its decision to expand operations in Texas," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said. "The decision to locate this new center and help create nearly 300 new jobs in the Metroplex is good business for Walmart, good business for Texas, and it serves as further proof our state's economy is booming and will continue to grow."

"Walmart's announcement today represents more than 350 good, well-paying jobs for people of the Lehigh Valley and we congratulate them on their choice of Pennsylvania for this critical expansion," said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. "As Walmart moves forward with expansion of its e-commerce business we will be a partner in ensuring Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley remain a continued part of that growth."

To support its growth, Walmart said it will continue to expand its use of large-scale online fulfillment centers, and is also leveraging online fulfillment areas within its distribution centers and utilizing stores to ship online orders directly to customers. More than 10 percent of units ordered on Walmart.com are now shipped to a customer’s door from a store, and more than 50 percent of these orders are delivered in two days or less. The two facilities are expected to provide more than 600 full-time positions in Pennsylvania and Texas, and would likely add another 600 workers during the holidays and other peak seasons.

The Fort Worth facility will be operated by Brentwood, Tennessee based OHL, a global supply chain management solutions company. The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania center will be fully operated by Walmart.

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