Kees Smit Garden Furniture starts building a new 30,000-square-metre distribution centre. Due to the nitrogen crisis, the corona crisis and a fire in one of its warehouses, the lead-up process took longer than planned. The retailer is, however, shelving the construction of its dream building, which is to include offices and Experience Stores XXL in addition to the distribution centre, for the time being. "That is too big a dream for now," says managing director Henk Smit.
New construction started this week at the XL Businesspark in Almelo, covering 30,000 square metres. Through racking and flooring, Kees Smit is creating an effective storage capacity of 85,000 square metres. The distribution centre's 32 loading and unloading docks can be flexibly deployed for receiving and shipping garden furniture. A collection area is located to the side of the building. The office part (over 1,800 square metres ) consists of two floors.
Plans for the new premises had been in place for several years, but were delayed by the nitrogen crisis. This was followed by an uncertain period due to COVID-19. "Corona makes it difficult to do business," Smit explains. "The future remains uncertain because no one knows what will happen and how the virus will continue to spread and develop. Fortunately, we, in our industry, were able to experience that many consumers invested in their gardens last season."
Fire warehouse
On 5 May, Kees Smit Garden Furniture was hit by a fire in its Vroomshop warehouse. The fire reduced 1,600 square metres of storage space to ashes. Staff were able to leave the premises in time, leaving no one injured. However, sales, both online and in shops, had to be halted for about a week after the fire. The incident did not leave the retailer cold, according to the general manager.
Distribution centre first priority
"The dream building, in which we will bring our distribution centre, offices and the Experience Store XXL together under one roof, is therefore too big a dream for now. Despite having a permit for the entire project, we choose to split the construction into two phases."
Construction of the distribution centre with an office function is now a priority. "Because we supply our garden furniture from stock, to continue facilitating rapid growth, we have often had to expand in terms of storage space in other locations. This is not logistically optimal. For our logistics staff, it is nice that they will soon be able to work from one central point. The biggest advantage of this is that mutual transport between the many warehouses is no longer necessary."
Smit says the need to also move the Experience Store XXL to the site is less pressing. For now, the current shop will remain located on Ambachtstraat in Almelo. Over the next few years, the retailer will decide on the second phase of construction.
