Warehousing firm Americold has opened a new facility in the Southeastern United States and announced a partnership with natural and organic grocery chain Sprouts Farmers Market.
The 260,000-square-foot site is in East Point, Georgia, and will serve as the regional distribution center for Sprouts Farmers Market’s southeastern operations, which are set to expand considerably as the publicly traded company enacts its plan to increase its total number of stores to more than 250 in 15 states in 2017.
“The opening of our East Point site allows us to support Sprouts and other food retailers that are rapidly expanding throughout the Southeast. We’re very happy to bring new jobs and career opportunities to our hometown Atlanta community,” Americold President and CEO Fred Boehler said in a press release. “Americold is thrilled to be able to work with Sprouts as an anchor tenant in this facility and provide the additional, dedicated capacity needed as they continue to expand their healthy grocery operations from coast to coast.”
Americold owns and operates more than 145 facilities in the United States, including public refrigerated warehouses, port-specific facilities, customer-dedicated sites and managed facilities. The new East Point site, which it purchased last summer, will offer two temperature zones, at 34 and 55 degrees Farenheit, which it said was “ideal for the Sprouts’ fresh produce warehousing needs.”
Sprouts Farmers Market offers both wild-caught and farm-raised seafood in all of its stores, with seafood “delivered up to six days a week from approved vendor and fisheries who follow strict food safety and sourcing standards,” according to the company’s website. It also handles special orders for “seasonal or exotic seafood” and does a “Seafood Roadshow" at its stores monthly, where store associates perform cooking demonstrations of seasonal or specialty fish and shellfish, hand out samples, and offer discounts.
