by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns bounce@conway.com

While the town's new Wal-Mart distribution center will not take advantage of rail, the BNSF classification yard in Barstow is one of the largest in the country. The railroad is investing in a new rail spur at a nearby industrial park.

T

he wintertime headline in the local Desert Dispatch read, "It's a good time to hunt wild pigs." The subject was feral pig hunting in neighboring Utah, but Barstow, Calif., locals could have been forgiven for thinking it was a nod to the Razorback State origins of a new corporate project: Wal-Mart's new 880,000-sq.-ft. (81,752-sq.-m.) food distribution center.
   Located in an area of the city just designated as an Enterprise Zone in November 2005, the project will employ 500 at the outset, with a goal of employing 700 within three years.
   "The facility we are planning for Barstow will feature state-of-the-art technology and bring added capacity, which will allow us to better serve our expanding California Supercenter presence," said Rollin Ford, Executive Vice President of Logistics for Wal-Mart, at the December 15, 2005, announcement. "That we chose Barstow is a vote of confidence in its people and leadership. We believe they embody the kind of spirit and can-do attitude that will ensure effective and efficient service to our California customers."
   Those customers are currently served via 191 different Wal-Mart stores, as well as a 1.3-million-sq.-ft. (120,770-sq.-m.) distribution center in Apple Valley, just to the south, that in early 2005 expanded to more than 800 employees after just opening in March 2004. The company's plans for the fiscal year begun Feb. 1, 2006, include the opening of 555 more stores globally, including up to 280 U.S. Supercenters. One of them, in fact, was announced in January 2006 in Hesperia, Calif., just south of Apple Valley.
   The Barstow project is one of three new food distribution centers Wal-Mart plans to develop during the next fiscal year, in addition to two new regional general merchandise distribution centers. Combined, the five distribution centers are expected to add over 5 million sq. ft. (464,500 sq. m.) of distribution space. Wal-Mart spokesman Keith Morris said that company logistics executives, citing the project's pending permits, declined to respond to questions from Site Selection about the site selection process.
   Ford extended thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his economic development team; Ron Rector, Barstow's manager of economic development; Barstow Mayor Lawrence E. Dale and the Barstow City Council.