On July 20, 2001—25 years ago this month—the Exchange’s West Coast Distribution Center opened at the Sharpe Army Depot in Lathrop, California.
The $70 million facility replaced a western DC that had operated in Oakland since late 1975. The newer DC was more state of the art, highly automated and mechanized.
The Lathrop location, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, was chosen because of its proximity to a port in Oakland and to Interstate 5, which runs from the Mexican border to the Canadian border and goes through significant cities in California, Oregon and Washington.
The DC had only been open a few months when, in October 2001, it sent a trailer providing much needed health and personal hygiene items, cold drinks and snacks to the more than 560 troops from Fort Lewis, Washington, who were fighting wildfires in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest northeast of Seattle.
One of the most major changes at the DC occurred in 2017, when new JDA warehouse management software was implemented for e-commerce fulfillment to prepare for the Veterans online shopping benefit that began on Veterans Day of that year.
In October 2019, the West Coast DC began delivering men’s, women’s, children’s and infant’s clothes and shoes to Exchanges in the Western and Pacific regions. Before that, all fashions were shipped from Dan Daniel.
In October 2024, a self-serve market opened at the DC, providing expanded shopping convenience for associates, especially night-shift workers.
The DC began as an 850,000-square-foot facility that served more than 125 stores in the Western and Pacific regions. Since then, it has grown to more than 1.1 million square feet and serves about 500 stores—with a smaller team than it had in 2001.
And a good portion of that team was there in 2001. According to WCDC Manager Mike Martino, 20% of the DC’s 330 current associates reached or will reach their 25-year service milestones in 2026.
Source: Exchange Post archives
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