The Packaging Wholesalers, a wholesale retailer of packaging supply chain materials to distributors, held a grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting Thursday for its 300,000 square foot facility at 63 Green Mountain Road in the Humboldt Industrial Park.
This is the company’s third location nationwide, joining its corporate offices and flagship location outside of Chicago and a second facility in Dallas, Texas. Between the three facilities, the company now has more than a million square feet of distribution space and the ability to support customers nationwide. According to its corporate website, The Packaging Wholesalers selected the Humboldt Industrial Park location because the proximity to Interstates 80 and 81 will allow for distribution to 50 percent of its customers within three to four hours.
CAN DO President and CEO Kevin O’Donnell said The Packaging Wholesalers is the latest company to see the impact of opening a facility in Greater Hazleton. “We are excited to welcome The Packaging Wholesalers distribution center to Humboldt Industrial Park. The company is the latest in a long line of tenants to our parks that have seen the benefit of expanding to Greater Hazleton to take advantage of the prime access to the various interstate shipping routes. They are a thriving company and we look forward to their continued success here,” O’Donnell said.
Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce President Mary Malone opened the ribbon cutting ceremony by welcoming company officials and those from the community who joined in the celebration.
The Packaging Wholesalers’ Humboldt distribution center, which was constructed by Mericle Commercial Real Estate, has 42 dock doors and will house more than 1,200 different sizes of corrugated boxes and mailers along with a variety of additional packaging materials and shipping supplies, including boxes manufactured at the International Paper location in Humboldt Industrial Park. Several Mericle officials attended the ribbon cutting ceremony. “Mericle Commercial Real Estate has been a great partner with CAN DO in attracting industry to Greater Hazleton. This is just one of the many projects that Mericle has brought to our industrial parks,” O’Donnell said.
The Packaging Wholesalers opened its first distribution center in 2004 after owner Mike Hrbacek saw the need for a wholesaler to support distribution nationwide. Brenda Marasa, Vice President of Sales for The Packaging Wholesalers, said the company is amazed to be opening a third facility so quickly after the opening of its Dallas location in March of 2015. “None of this would be possible without the guidance of our fearless leader, the hard work of our team at all locations, the loyal support of our vendors and communities like Hazleton who welcome us with open arms,” Marasa said.
Hrbacek got his start in the packaging business more than 27 years ago working for a packaging distributor in Chicago. A year later, he started his own packaging company which provided packaging supplies and custom cartons to local businesses in the Chicago land area. In late 2001, Hrbacek reentered the packaging supply chain when he created JIT Packaging.com to sell stock boxes, tapes, stretch film and other products. When distributors began inquiring about purchasing supplies from the company, Hrbacek decided to restructure the business to sell exclusively to packaging distributors.
In February of 2012, JIT Packaging changed its name and identity to The Packaging Wholesalers. The company developed a revolutionary Patent Pending Delivered Pricing Program that allows all orders that meet minimum threshold values to a designated zip code to be shipped freight-free anywhere in the continental USA and led to the company’s substantial business growth and expansion.
In a release on its corporate website, Hrbacek said the company is “humbled” to be opening its third location. “The new warehouse and offices in Pennsylvania will support our ongoing initiatives providing cost cutting technological advances to our patent pending delivered pricing program and also present more opportunity to capitalize on aggressive pricing and lead times through our nationally recognized tiered pricing program,” he said.
CAPTION: The Packaging Wholesalers held a grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting Thursday for its 300,000 square foot facility at 63 Green Mountain Road in the Humboldt Industrial Park. Pictured are, from left: Stefanie Hrbacek, The Packaging Wholesalers District Sales Manager; Dan Guydish, Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce Membership Director; Joe Baran, representing the CAN DO Board of Directors; Nancy Stasko, CAN DO Director of Administration; Brian Poveromo, Humboldt Park Association President; Carla Thaller, representing the CAN DO Board of Directors; Donna Barna, Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Chairman; Kevin O’Donnell, CAN DO President and CEO; Jeff Payne, The Packaging Wholesalers Warehouse Manager; Scott Rake, The Packaging Wholesalers Operations Manager; Scott Smith, The Packaging Wholesalers Supervisor; Mike Hrbacek, The Packaging Wholesalers Owner; John Madden, CAN DO Board of Directors Chairman; Brian Payne, The Packaging Wholesalers Northeast Regional Sales Manager; Jim Hilsher, representing Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services; Lew Sebia, representing Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services; Mary Malone, Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce President; and Brenda Marasa, The Packaging Wholesalers Vice President of Sales.
