Ace Rolls Out New DC With Bike Relay

Ace Hardware celebrated the opening of its new retail support center in Moxee, Wa., with an open house and the start of its third coast-to-coast "Tour de Kids" ride to raise money for Children's Miracle Network (CMN) hospitals.

"We are so excited to see our new distribution center up and running," said Jeff Scott, manager of the retail support center and a Tour de Kids rider. "lt's very difficult to operate efficiently rvhen you're out of space and you have to move the product several times."

The new center in Moxee replaces Ace's 506,500-sq. ft. RSC in Yakima, just 10 miles away, which had been operating beyond capacity. Located on aJ4-acre site. the Moxee center serves an estimate d 337 Ace retailers throughout Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Using the latest warehousing and distribution technology. the 788,000-sq. ft. center will house and distribute an estimated $47 million in inventory.

From June l8 to August 20, a relay team of nearly 50 "Helpful Riders" will bike from Seattle to Boston. Ma.. to raise $l million for CMN, whose affiliates include 170 children's hospitals across the country. The contin-eent of Ace retailers. executives. corporate employees. and numerous vendor partners rvill tackle each one of the nine arduous le-es of the ride. for a total of 4.300 miles.

"We've had great success raising funds for CMN via the Tour de Kids. nearly $1.3 million in the last nvo years." said Jimmy Alexander. v.p.human resources. "lt's become one of our most visible fundraising events."