ST. CLOUD -- An incoming St. Cloud food distribution center is expected to create hundreds of jobs in central Minnesota.

The Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation announced this week that Coborn's will be partnering with national food distribution company Associated Wholesale Grocers Incorporated to bring a hub facility to central Minnesota.

The ninth full-line wholesale facility of its kind for AWG, the hub will be located at the former Creative Memories site in St. Cloud's I-94 Business Park along Opportunity Drive. The facility will include more than 650,000 square feet of warehouse space and supply fresh and frozen food to grocers all over the region starting in January.

AWG President and CEO David Smith says he expects to see a lot of growth for the area once the facility is up and running.

The upper Midwest is home to Coborn’s and other extraordinary independent grocers. We have experienced strong growth in this region, but distance and distribution costs weren’t favorable for our members or us. We believe this new division will be a gamechanger for grocers in the area and will quickly become our highest growth division.

The company expects to create more than 400 jobs locally and is already planning for future expansion. AWG currently supplies over 1,000 companies in 28 states from hubs in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Wisconsin, and Nebraska.

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