Beauty powerhouse preps for sixth DC

Ulta Beauty is getting ready to break ground on its newest distribution center.



The retailer, which plans to open 100 stores in 2017 recently signed a lease to open its sixth distribution center in Fresno, California. The facility, which is slated to open the summer of 2018, will be designed “to substantially improve delivery times to the West Coast,” Mary Dillon, the company’s CEO, said during the chain’s fourth quarter 2016 earnings call on Thursday, March 9.



The facility will contribute to the Ulta Beauty’s goal to improve shipping lead times. The chain reported 88% of orders shipped within 48 hours in 2016 — “an 83% increase improvement compared to 2015's [busy] performance,” according to Dillon.



To continue this momentum, the company plans to ramp up the volume across its the Greenwood, Indiana warehouse to serve close to 300 stores, and the Dallas distribution center to serve a little over 200 stores by the end of 2017, she added.



The warehouse, which have an initial workforce of 542, could employ up to 1,000 employees, according to The Fresno Bee.