Why Glazer's Beer & Beverage is moving from McAllen to Weslaco sooner than planned
WESLACO, Texas – If it were not for the coronavirus pandemic, Glazer’s Beer & Beverage might have kept their warehouse and distribution center in McAllen for a few more years.
But, beer drinking at home increased dramatically during lockdown and the Dallas-based company had to bring forward its expansion plans.
All of this was explained during a groundbreaking ceremony for Glazer’s new state-of-the-art facility in Weslaco. Glazer’s will be the anchor tenant at the new Mid Valley International Industrial Park, with a giant warehouse and distribution center covering 253,200 square feet. Around 200 jobs will be created.
Once it is up and running Glazer’s facility at 2000 Redbud Avenue in McAllen will close.
Orman Anderson, chief financial officer for Glazer’s, explained why the project had to be brought forward when he spoke from the podium at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Here are his remarks in full:
“It really is as hot up here as it looks. I want to thank Matt (Matt Swilling, vice president of sales and operations for Glazer’s) for emphasizing the security system on this warehouse. There will be a million cases of beer in there but you cannot get in to get them. We’ll bring them to you.
“So, about four years ago, the end of 2018, the beginning of 2019, we sat down to do some planning. And one of the areas we looked at was McAllen. We started to get a little bit full in the warehouse. And we did some financial analysis that said for every year we can postpone moving into a new warehouse we save almost a million dollars, every single year.
“And so we looked at our growth and we were growing about one percent volume a year. Every once in a while we would grow two percent. Sometimes we would have a flat year. But we figured at one percent growth a year we have at least ten years until we need to get into a new warehouse.
“And so we embarked on that plan. We said okay, we’ll do this for ten years. Well, in 2019 we had a pretty good year and we grew three percent. So we said okay, well instead of being in year one of a ten year plan we’re now in year three of a ten year plan. We decided everything was good.
“2020 comes along and we have this thing called COVID hit. And our business didn’t grow at three percent. It didn’t grow at five percent. It grew at 13 percent. And so all of a sudden we find ourselves in the middle of a pandemic and in year 16 of a ten year plan. So Matt got to work, as you’ve heard, and secured us a great site.
“And we learned really two important lessons from that planning exercise. The first is that this is an amazing place to do business. There is a lot of growth in this area. It’s a vibrant economy, and it is a great place to sell beer.
“The second thing we learned from this exercise is that you can’t go forward looking in the rearview mirror. You have to take some risks, and you have to take some steps on faith.
“And so today I want to express our appreciation and gratitude to the City of Weslaco, to Hidalgo County, to the EDC for the faith they put in us, GBB, in helping us secure this location so that we can grow into the future.
“The Glazer family has been in business in Texas for over 100 years. Matt mentioned that we have almost 200 of those family members here in the Rio Grande Valley. And we can’t wait to build on that legacy going forward. So thank you all for being here.”
About Orman Anderson
As Chief Financial Officer at Glazer’s Beer & Beverage, Orman Anderson oversees finance and accounting, IT, real estate, tax and aviation.
Prior to joining GBB, Anderson spent 15 years in investment banking at JP Morgan & Bear Stearns and served as a CPA at Pricewaterhouse. Anderson earned an accounting degree from BYU and received an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Anderson currently resides in Dallas, Texas. He spends his free time outdoors, specifically enjoying activities such as mountain biking, camping and fishing. When Anderson isn’t busy outdoors, you’ll find him cheering on his favorite football teams.