Local dignitaries as well as members of the McCurdy family, owners of Kimball Midwest, gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the company’s new distribution center in Newtown on Friday, October 6.

Kimball Midwest, a national industrial supplier based in Columbus, Ohio has begun operations at its new distribution center at 14 Prospect Drive, just months before the company reaches its centennial.

The 142,000-square-foot facility, which the company acquired in 2021 before undertaking an extensive remodeling process, will allow for enhanced service to thousands of customers across the northeastern United States.

“We appreciate all the hard work contributed by so many people to get our new distribution center up and running,” Kimball Midwest President Patrick McCurdy III said. “We already have an extensive list of customers in the region, and this location will allow us to better serve our existing customers as well as new ones in the future.”

Newtown is the smallest community to host a Kimball Midwest distribution center, but its strategic location made it the right choice for the next step in the company’s growth.

“We’re grateful to have found such an ideal location in Newtown,” McCurdy said. “We appreciate the welcome we’ve received from the community and look forward to partnering with them for many years to come.”

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal said it was a “happy day” to see the location once again occupied and busy. He mentioned the last time he was on the property was in 2019 before Hubbell, another family-owned business, vacated the building.

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” said Rosenthal, referring to the fact that the building was reoccupied so quickly. “We went from one family-owned business to another family-owned business.”

Rosenthal said that town boards and commissions such as the Board of Selectmen, Legislative Council, Board of Finance, and Economic Development Commission were all behind Kimball Midwest moving into the building, and he said Kimball was a “great business.”

“It makes me more positive on where the Connecticut economy is going,” said Rosenthal, who further said that Kimball is “already weaving itself into the fabric of the town.”

State Senator Tony Hwang (R-28) said that Kimball Midwest “saw a community that fits its values” as well as having “geographical convenience” for their business, and “great town leadership.”

Kimball Midwest primarily serves its customers through a network of more than 1,200 sales representatives across the continental United States. It recently was listed as the 30th largest industrial supply company in the nation by Industrial Distribution.

In the last year, it has been honored among the 50 Best Companies to Sell For by Selling Power magazine and received Training magazine’s Training APEX Award.

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Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.