Wal-Mart to Expand Monroe Distribution Center

Expansion Project will Create 200 New Jobs

            ATLANTA, GA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, is expanding its Monroe, Georgia distribution center.  The expansion will create an additional 200 new jobs at the facility which currently employs more than 500 associates.  Construction of the expansion is to begin in the summer of 2005 with planned service to store locations expected in the spring of 2006.

            “It is always welcome news when one of our state’s largest employers expands and creates jobs for more Georgians,” said Governor Sonny Perdue.  “Even as we recruit new business to Georgia, we will continue creating economic opportunity for the hard-working people of this state through our existing corporate customers.”

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. currently operates 26 Discount Stores, 81 Supercenters, 21 SAM’S Clubs and eight distribution centers, and employs more than 49,636 associates in Georgia. 

“The Monroe distribution center expansion will provide Wal-Mart the opportunity to better serve the growing number of Wal-Mart customers who shop at our stores in South Carolina and Georgia,” said Rollin Ford, Executive Vice President of Logistics for Wal-Mart.  “It is a significant project that represents our continued commitment to Georgia as a partner in both economic development and community.”

“While working on this important project over the last several months, we have had excellent cooperation from the Walton County Board of Commissioners and officials with the city of Monroe.  This was a great team effort that will bring numerous benefits for the citizens of Walton County,” said Nancy Kinsey, Executive Director of the Development Authority of Walton County.

Wal-Mart’s planned expansion follows three major economic development projects announced last week.  Honda is building a $100 million plant in Tallapoosa, Georgia to produce automatic transmissions that will create approximately 400 jobs.  FedEx Ground has selected a 75-acre site in Kennesaw, Georgia as the location for a new 247,000-square-foot automated distribution facility to be opened by summer 2006 that will have a workforce of approximately 475 employees and independent contractors.  InterContinental Hotels Group opened its new $115 million dollar flagship hotel in the Buckhead area of Atlanta that will employ 300.