Initiative Distribution is a startup business, but we've also been around for more than 20 years. Here's how that works, and why I think it makes us the right partner for brands that need something different.
— Jamie Grove, Owner
How I Came to Own a Warehouse in West Virginia
In 2015, I was looking for a partner to assemble and ship the Second Edition of the Mini Museum. The work was complicated - the product required attention to detail, including assembly and quality assurance. The items were sequentially numbered, and getting each individual item to the right person was absolutely critical. Further, there would be thousands of orders simultaneously, and everything would need to ship as quickly as possible.
In short, the project was a nightmare for any fulfillment company, and plenty of 3PLs took a pass without even offering to write up a quote.
Finding Upper Tract
At the time, I assumed we'd just have to ship everything ourselves again. We had done it before, and we knew what was ahead of us. But then, our printing partner suggested we take a drive into the heart of West Virginia and visit a little warehouse they had in a village named Upper Tract.
Upper Tract sits in a valley just over the mountains from Harrisonburg, Virginia, and the I-81 corridor. This pastoral scene is not where you'd expect to find a fully operational warehouse with nearly 100,000 square feet of rack space, three large commercial trucking bays, and loads of floor space dedicated to fabrication.
But that's what I found when I got there.
The Right People
More importantly, I found people who deeply cared about the customers they served and took a personal interest in the products that passed through their facility. They took immense pride in handling the merchandise and ensuring it was carefully packed. They were also intensely competitive and focused on overdelivering on expectations.
Not only did that turn out to be the right choice, but Upper Tract also became a place where I could build a much larger business. The team there was always ready to handle new challenges as we expanded. We added new lines of business and hundreds of active SKUs. We kept running large crowdfunding projects and dropping thousands of orders at a time on the warehouse.
They ate it up and shipped our products to more than 100,000 customers in over 120 countries around the world.
Taking the Initiative
Nearly a decade later, just as we finished fulfillment for the Fifth Edition of the Mini Museum, I received word that the warehouse's parent company would be closing the facility. This was largely a consolidation move - even though Upper Tract had been operational for over two decades, general fulfillment was no longer considered a core competency for the parent company.
In looking at the broader fulfillment market, I found that many things had changed. There were an enormous number of potential vendors, especially in e-commerce. However, most of these vendors were interested in shipping low-touch products or handling pallets. A few were in highly specific niches. Almost no one wanted to talk about sequential products like the Mini Museum, and even fewer were interested in fabrication.
The best option I found added nearly 5X to my assembly costs and 2X to my pick and pack costs.
Partially on a whim, I asked if I might acquire the warehouse business. After all, I'd been a client for nearly a decade, spending countless hours in the facility working alongside the team. I knew how the facility operated. I knew the team and what they were capable of doing. I believed deeply in these employees - their dedication, their craftsmanship, their commitment to excellence. They trusted me, and I trusted them.
A New Chapter
As it turned out, other customers all had similar stories. Their businesses were very different and so were their needs, but they all loved the way Upper Tract worked. It took a little while, but with support from our county economic development partners and the commitment of the warehouse team, I was able to work out a trial agreement with the owners of the building and acquire the assets of the warehouse. I retained several customers, and we set to work.
The initial trial phase was a success for all of us and now we're building towards the next chapter in the story - bringing new customers to Upper Tract.
Our ideal client
Someone who needs something they can't find anywhere else. We love companies with unusual products or special business requirements that don't fit into typical fulfillment scenarios. We want clients who let us take the initiative to help improve their business. We want to be challenged and have fun. We want to help you grow.
