Northwest Tire Factory Group plans to open a second distribution center, in Salt Lake City, Aug. 1 to help ease the workload at its main warehouse in Portland.
The 45,000-sq.-ft. center will service about 50 of Northwest Tire's 180 Tire Factory member locations, said Nick Hodel, CEO of the Portland-based dealer group.
The facility will supply stores in Utah, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and parts of Nevada.
Mr. Hodel said the main distribution center-a 123,000-sq.-ft. complex in Portland-could not be expanded because the company doesn't have enough property. The warehouse started at only 30,000 square feet, he said.
``We needed to loosen up some space,'' he said, adding the Salt Lake site also provides logistics benefits for dealers farther away from Portland.