Harlan Kirgan
Coburn’s Supply is planning to complete a new $2.9 million, 90,000-square-foot distribution center by August on the east side of La. 13.
The project is expected to cost $2.9 million.
Brandon Gobert, a warehouse manager at Coburn’s, said the facility will make the operations much more efficient.
The current distribution building on the west side of La. 13 is 113,000 square feet, but it will be abandoned for the new building, he said.
The new building will be under one roof and utilize a racking system that allows greater efficiency in storage, he said.
Coby Clavier, manager of the retail side, said the operations will be moved to the east side of La. 13. The company has not made a decision about the buildings on the west side, but it is likely they will be sold, he said.
Coburn’s runs its website from Eunice and that office will also move to the east side of the road.
The distribution center here ships items across the nation and sales are made on Amazon, he said.
“They get more than you think,” Clavier said of the website’s business.
Gobert said he started six years ago with Coburn’s working on website shipping. “The orders started getting heavier and heavier,” he said.
Clavier said there 11 people working in the retail office and about 40 in the warehouse.
There are three people working at the Eunice site on the Coburn’s webpage, he said.
Gobert said it is expected the company will increase the number of employees after the new distribution building goes into operation.
Moving operations to one side of the highway will eliminate the need for employees to cross the road, which will improve safety, he said.
Coburn’s has two other distributions centers at Greenwood, Mississippi, and Jasper, Texas.
“We are growing,” Clavier said. “In the last 10 years we probably added 10 or 12 locations.”
There were 37 Coburn’s locations when he started in 1997 and now there more than 50, he said.
Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot said, “We are excited. It is a big investment in the community. I wish we had more companies that expanding like Coburn’s.”
Coburn’s, located at 770 N. C.C. Duson in Eunice, started here in 1985.
The company was founded in 1934. The family-owned business distributes commercial and residential plumbing, electrical, waterworks and HVAC products and services, according to its website.
The company operates in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.