Total Biz Fulfillment, Inc. recently celebrated the opening of its fourth distribution center in a Westernport warehouse formerly utilized by the Luke paper mill.
The company marked the grand opening of the location with a ribbon-cutting at the site along State Route 135.
The facility gives the company an additional 117,000 square feet of warehouse space and employs 18 people. Including additional locations in Grantsville, Oakland, and Frostburg, the company employs 172 people in total.
“We’ve needed more space as we grow and we’re glad to be coming to Westernport now as well,” said CEO Paul Ruddell. “It’s an exciting day for us.”
The paper mill operated for 130 years under such names as the Piedmont Pulp and Paper Mill, Westvaco and New Page. The mill, owned by Verso at the time, closed its doors in 2019, resulting in the loss of nearly 700 jobs.
“It’s great to see this, especially since this (warehouse) was used by the paper mill,” Jeff Barclay, director of economic development for Allegany County Government, said. “We work hard at this every day, so when we can have a ribbon-cutting like this, it’s a good feeling.”
Established in 1993, Total Biz Fulfillment offers storage, picking and packing, and delivery for products in the toy industry, games, gifts, housewares and health and beauty supplies.
A family business, the Ruddells got their start in the publishing business as Hobby House Press, which was located on Frederick Street in Cumberland. They saw that publishing would be difficult moving forward and made the change in the mid-1990s.
“We transitioned it over to be able to provide a fulfillment center,” said Gary Ruddell, the company’s chairman. “Today we’re supporting manufacturers in the U.S. and Asia. We’ve become a North American distribution center shipping to customers like Walmart, Target, Amazon and all your major department stores and grocery stores.”
At all its locations combined, the company has a total of 420,000 square feet of warehouse space and expects to be hiring in the future.
“We are happy to be a third-generation family business and all of the people who work with us are like family and are important to our success,” said Ruddell.
“We’ve been able to help them to expand and stay in the area,” said Barclay. “That is part of what economic development is all about. How do we grow what we already have? This is a great example of helping to expand into a location.”
The Ruddells began a lease at the Westernport warehouse in November and were open by January.
“It’s a great story,” said Commissioner Bill Atkinson. “It shows there is potential in our area and it can be a win-win situation.”
Article courtesy of the Cumberland-Times News. Greg Larry is a reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. To reach him, call 304-639-4951, email [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @GregLarryCTN.
