New Greenville Headquarters

Southwestern Electric planning new Greenville headquarters

Southwestern Electric has operated from its current Greenville headquarters since 1969.

Over those 57 years, the cooperative’s membership has grown and changed. With it, the needs of the cooperative have evolved as well. Just as a young family might outgrow a home, the current facility no longer meets the needs of our operation.

Six years ago, the board of directors began the process of assessing the cooperative’s operational needs both now and in the future. Everything was on the table – upgrading the current facility, building new or moving into an existing space. In the same way, the board considered potential sites across the cooperative’s service area, leaving no stone unturned.

In the end, their search led them just two miles northeast of their current location. Essendant, a Staples subsidiary specializing in wholesale distribution of workplace essentials, janitorial supplies and industrial products, announced last November the closure of its Greenville location, threatening to leave the 228,600-square-foot space sitting empty for the foreseeable future.

Southwestern Electric Board President Jerry Gaffner said the opportunity was too good to pass up.

“As we went through the due diligence,” Gaffner said, “it became very clear that the Essendant building presented the membership and the cooperative an opportunity to streamline the operation at a low, low price point relative to the square footage.”

Board Vice President Jared Stine cited the ability to get valuable equipment out of the elements and under roof as just one of the “handful of things” that attracted him to the building.

“Of course, financially, this is the biggest bang for our buck for our membership,” Stine said. “It has everything that we need. The location is also very attractive. The city of Greenville has done a great job with this industrial park.

“Lastly, the benefit to the city of Greenville itself. This is a building that unfortunately might have sat empty, so to be able to jump in and bring it back to life was very important to us.”

With the contract signed, the board will turn its attention to tailoring the new building to the cooperative’s needs. Board Treasurer Sandy Grapperhaus is the chair of the newly formed Facilities Committee that will oversee that project, with hopes that the cooperative can inhabit its new headquarters at some point in 2027.

As with the purchase of the new building itself, Grapperhaus said being a good steward of the membership’s money will be paramount in the renovation process.

“I’m honored to be on the Facilities Committee,” Grapperhaus said. “I have a lot of experience in construction and a lot of knowledge about the business, so hopefully I can be of service.”