By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
PEARL RIVER – The biggest jobs creator in the Slidell area over the past decade is apparently creating more jobs, faster than expected.
Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) Senior Vice President and Plant Manager David Smith said the regional grocery distribution center is growing so fast that they have already added 100 more jobs in less than a year from their opening.
“Things are going fantastic,” Smith said. “We’re close to 400 employees now and continuing to grow.”
It was big news for the area when AWG selected a site in Pearl River to build a 720,000 square foot distribution center, the seventh in the nation for the company that supplies groceries to independent stores across the country.
Smith said that when they opened here in January, 2013 they were supplying groceries for 138 stores in the Southeast United States area, but in less than a year, that number has already grown to 227.
When the company opened, they were offering approximately 300 top paying jobs with outstanding benefits, making their presence here a huge win for the economy. Now, Smith said, the addition of more grocery stores has helped them offer 100 more jobs, with that number continuing to grow. He expects another 100 jobs to be available in the coming two years, bringing them near 500 employees.
Smith said that Rouse’s and Lishman’s are two local stores that recently signed on to be supplied by AWG—a decision that will reduce freight costs for those stores in receiving groceries, thereby allowing them to pass on lower prices to their shoppers.