Merchants Distributors, Inc.
Alex Lee, Inc. is a wholesale distributor of food and non-food items to grocery stores, headquartered in Hickory, North Carolina, United States. Its Merchants Distributors, Inc. division supplies more than 600 stores located in nine states, mostly in the Southeast.[1]
History
Around 1920, A.C. Kelly took over Merchants Produce Company of Hickory, a wholesale fruit and produce company. In 1931, Moses George, a Shelby, North Carolina grocer, bought Merchants Produce for $17,000 and began running it with his sons Alex and G.L. George.[2][3] Merchants Produce took advantage of the trend away from "mom-and-pop" grocery stores, as chain stores became common. In 1938 the name changed to Merchants Produce and Grocery as the company became an important distributor of merchandise to the independent stores in North and South Carolina. After Moses George died in 1947, his sons Alex and Lee took over the business, along with daughter Josephine. The name changed to Merchants Distributors Inc. or MDI in 1956. By 1960, MDI had over 130 employees and supplied 400 grocery stores within 150 miles. Alex George was president, and the company added a $1 million, four-acre facility on Twelfth Street. In 1965, MDI began selling to schools and eventually merged its MDI Foodservice with James Wholesale Company, also in Hickory, forming Institution Food House (IFH), with Lee George as president. Norman James was vice president; after his death, the Lee brothers bought his share of the company and made IFH a subsidiary of MDI. Lee George retired in 1980 but remained chairman.[3][4][5]
In 1984, MDI bought the Lowes Foods chain of supermarkets.[6]
In 1992 MDI, IFH and Lowes Foods became part of a new holding company Alex Lee Inc., named for Alex and Lee George. MDI president Boyd Lee George, grandson of the founder, became chairman and president, remaining as chairman of MDI.[4]
In 1993, MDI became a distribution center for Independent Grocers Alliance. In addition to providing the IGA stores with low-priced merchandise, this arrangement allowed IGA to take advantage of the advertising and merchandising skills of MDI.[1][4]
Also in 1995, MDI announced plans for a $60 million plant in Caldwell County. The company received $5.5 million in economic incentives from Caldwell County and Hickory, with plans for Hickory to annex the site and turn part of it into an industrial park (though as of 2008 the city had done nothing with its part of the land). This arrangement created controversy because the North Carolina Supreme Court had not yet ruled on whether such economic incentives to keep businesses were constitutional.[7][8] Two years later, the distribution center was complete, though neighbors complained about the noise, and a few people claimed construction damaged their nearby homes.[9] IFH took over the former MDI location.[3]
MDI also supplies Galaxy Food Centers, founded in 1979, with 100 stores in 7 states.[10]
References
- 1 2 http://www.merchantsdistributors.com, Retrieved on 2008/12/15.
- ↑ "Moses George Buys Fruit Co." Hickory Daily Record, 22 September 1931, p. 1.
- 1 2 3 "History - ALI". Retrieved 2012-07-28.
- 1 2 3 "Company Profiles: Alex Lee, Inc.". Hoover's. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
- ↑ Rob Urban, "L-R's Man of the Year Known for Modesty: Lee George Gets Praise for Good Works," The Charlotte Observer, January 15, 1989.
- ↑ "Carolinas FYI: About Lowe's and Lowes," The Charlotte Observer, March 16, 2003.
- ↑ Norman Gomlak, "Incentives for Keeping MDI in Hickory Top $5 Million," The Charlotte Observer, November 17, 1995.
- ↑ Hannah Mitchell, "Hickory Still Has No Plans for Vacant 122-Acre Tract," The Charlotte Observer, January 31, 2008.
- ↑ Jon Goldberg, "Hickory Company Gets Noise Warning," The Charlotte Observer, October 24, 1997.
- ↑ http://www.merchantsdistributors.com/customer_service/galaxy/, Retrieved on 2008/12/15.