On October 7, Whole Foods Market celebrated the opening of its new state-of-the-art distribution center in Vernon, California. Whole Foods marked the milestone by hosting a traditional bread-breaking ceremony with team members, company leaders and city officials, including Vernon Mayor Michael McCormick.
With nearly 100 full-time team members, this 128,000-square-foot distribution center serves the company’s 56 stores in Arizona, Hawaii, Southern California and southern Nevada.
Some of the building innovations include solar panels on the roof that heat water, a building for the recycling and compost sorting collected from all 56 stores, and break room furniture made of recycled materials, including chairs made of 111 recycled coke bottles each, and picnic tables made of recycled plastic.
Among additional highlights are earthquake-resistant racking in the warehouse with base isolators, state-of-the-art docks and 26 bay dock doors developed with straight lines from dock doors to warehouses for efficient loading and unloading, ammonia refrigeration as an energy efficient alternative to Freon and others.
