Expanding Laurel Grocery Co. Buys Ohio Warehouse Facility

LONDON, Ky. -- Wholesaler Laurel Grocery Co. here said it has purchased Dennison, Ohio-based wholesaler Tusco Grocers to beef up its capacity for continued growth.

"Laurel has been growing at a rapid pace during the last several years, and most recently our growth has been coming from northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania," Laurel president and c.e.o. Jim Buchanan said in a statement. "We felt we could better serve those new retailers as well as the rest of our customer base, with the addition of a warehouse facility in that general area. The timing was perfect, as we had begun looking for a location to open a warehouse in that general area when we were contacted by Tusco about a possible sale."

The newly purchased 275,000-square-foot full-line wholesale distribution center, to be known as Laurel Grocery Co., Northeast Division, "will allow us to carry items specific to northeast Ohio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia," added Buchanan. "It will help us to reduce trucking cost and allow us to expand our service area up to western New York."

According to Buchanan, the new warehouse "will give retailers in those areas another option when choosing the wholesaler who is going to be best for their business."

Laurel intends to retain most of the Tusco employees, and will be adding people in both Dennison and London as it expands in the areas served by that facility, Buchanan said, who told Progressive Grocer that his company would take over Tusco's operations March 1.

Tusco's Web site describes the company as "a wholesale distributor of food, household items, cigarettes, candy, and other products, serving customers in" Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
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