Now that the warehouse in Tiel is officially off the hook, supermarket Plus is increasingly hinting that Oss in Brabant may well become home to its new DC.
Alderman Frank den Brok of Oss in Brabant did not want to talk about it, he told the Brabants Dagblad. But now that Plus mentioned the city itself at the presentation of the annual figures, he feels free enough to divulge some details. "It all looks very positive, but I want to stress that nothing is complete yet. I am not going to sell the skin before the bear is shot."
Building permit
What is in any case round: Tiel will not be it. Due to the lack of planning permission, the supermarket is looking for alternatives, it announced at the presentation of its annual figures last week.
The mass retailer had planned to locate a central and 'extensively mechanised' distribution centre in Tiel, which would house all logistics activities for perishables from 2020. The four current regional distribution centres for perishables, in Haaksbergen, Middenbeemster, Hendrik Ido Ambacht and Ittervoort, had to close their doors.
350 jobs
The new DC could now provide Oss with 350 new jobs. Den Brok suspects that this has everything to do with the free plot of land at Vorstengrafdonk, he tells the Brabant newspaper. In terms of shape and dimensions, it looks exactly like the one in Tiel. PLUS thus does not have to change the plans drastically.
However, a Plus spokesperson reveals that there are other factors that would be advantageous for the Brabant city, such as the fact that Oss has a good connection to the motorways. And that the city has a central location in relation to the PLUS shops.
The plan to run all logistics operations from 2020 from the new DC at least seems off the table with the delay. Alderman Den Brok hopes to get a decision from the supermarket before the end of this spring.
