MINYARD EXPANDS WAREHOUSE TO HANDLE 3,000 MORE SKUS

AMITY K. MOORE

COPPELL, Texas -- Minyard Food Stores here has expanded its distribution center here to accommodate 3,000 more dry grocery products.

"Our growth has been phenomenal in the last two or three years, and we need more space," said Prudencio Pineda, the chain's senior vice president of warehousing and transportation.

The warehouse has been expanded by 280,000 square feet to 730,000 square feet. Though it currently holds about 7,000 dry goods, Pineda expects it to house a total of 10,000 grocery stockkeeping units by Jan. 1, 1997.

Some of the new items include low-fat dry goods, such as cookies, crackers, salty snacks and cake mixes, according to Pineda.

"People are now more conscious of what they eat. We have seen an increase in the sale of low-fat [items]," Pineda said.

The extra space also will be used to accommodate a variety of different product sizes that manufacturers offer and several imported items from Mexico, according to Gary Price, vice president of merchandising at the chain.

Though space is available in-store, the previous warehouse size prevented stores from bringing in more products, Price said.

"We have room in our sections for the new items, but we haven't been able to put all of them in because we haven't had the capacity in our warehouse," he added.

Prior to the expansion, Minyard leased a satellite warehouse, which was expensive, Pineda said. The project cost several million dollars. A specific figure was not obtainable.