New e-commerce warehouse under construction in Warrick County
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Evansville-based Ridgecrest Holdings LLC, the parent company of eLuxury and ePackageSupply, is building a $15 million warehouse in Warrick County, allowing it to consolidate some of the inventory and operations of the two e-commerce companies under one roof.
eLuxury sells mattresses and furniture as well as bed and bath products, while ePackage Supply carries food and industrial containers. Paul Saunders, president and founder of all three companies, told Inside INdiana Business the expansion will nearly double the current warehouse fulfillment distribution space.
“We have a total of four locations currently with approximately 250,000 square feet. This [additional] 150,000 square feet would get us to 400,000 square feet with plans to expand rapidly,” he said.
Ridgecrest Holdings broke ground for the new facility at North Warrick Industrial Park in Elberfeld in August. The warehouse will be located near the intersection of I-69 and I-64. Saunders expects to add 30 to 40 new jobs and open the warehouse by mid-2024.
“It’s been a big investment for us but a huge initiative as well,” he said.
Adventures in e-commerce
Saunders was in the military and worked at Whirlpool and Mead Johnson before founding Exceptional Sheets in Evansville in 2009. He changed the company’s name to eLuxury in 2012.
In 2014, eLuxury bought its largest supplier in Tennessee and worked with state and city officials to move manufacturing to Evansville a few years later. By 2016, eLuxury was named the fourth fastest-growing private company in the U.S. by Inc.
In 2018, North Carolina-based Culp Inc. completed a majority ownership investment in eLuxury. However, Saunders bought back the equity during the pandemic in 2020. That same year, he launched ePackage Supply.
Saunders attributes the success of his e-commerce companies to keeping operations in-house.
“The backbone of our foundation is on the operational side, and thus our commitment to doing it for ourselves, where so many others outsource that to a third party logistics service, Amazon or otherwise,” he said.
North Warrick Industrial Park
When Saunders began exploring expansion opportunities, he didn’t find many warehouses for sale.
“We had to start looking at, okay, well, if there’s nothing available to buy, what if we build? And that has been a somewhat complicated process just based on the cost of all the raw materials, availability, lead times, etc.,” he said.
Saunders said Warrick County offered the best location for a warehouse and “some fairly advantageous programs” to entice the deal. Steve Roelle, executive director at Success Warrick County, told Inside INdiana Business the partnership was organic.
“They were looking at the region and what was available, and the North Warrick Industrial Park was one of those key areas,” he said. “Then, it just came down to a conversation on making sure that it was the right fit for the community and the right fit for them to grow and succeed.”
Current tenants at North Warrick Industrial Park include Pepsi, North American Lighting and Phenix Specialty Films, a Florida-based food packaging film supplier.
“As a community and geographic area, we are—specifically for anybody doing logistics or supply chain this side of the Rockies—the best place you could possibly be for warehousing fulfillment and distribution,” said Saunders.
“Warrick County has been looking at expanding in that corner by Elberfeld where I-69 and I-64 meet. It’s a natural benefit for the community to bring a growing company, jobs and investment to the northwest portion of the county,” Roelle added.
‘A challenging year in banking’
Saunders credited Field & Main Bank in Henderson, Kentucky, for getting the ball rolling on the new warehouse for eLuxury and ePackage Supply. Kyle Fuller, first vice president and senior commercial loan officer at the community bank, told Inside INdiana Business that Saunders and Anderson Capital Partners approached him about the project.
“A lot of other banks were shutting the door and saying, ‘Hey, why don’t you come back next year? Let’s see how all this shakes out. Let’s wait and make sure that the economy gets back to better footing before we take this on,’” said Fuller. “We looked at what they were trying to achieve rather than kind of putting a broad statement out like some of the bigger banks do.”
Fuller said this year’s economic uncertainty has prevented many financial institutions from signing deals.
“2023 has been a challenging year in banking. Interest rates are increasing, inflation, all of these economic factors are presenting challenges not only for the banks but for our clients. It’s just making it difficult to get things done across the board,” he said. “A lot of this territory has become an outlying market for bigger banks. It’s a place where they don’t want to devote a whole lot of resources or manpower…They like bigger markets.”
However, Saunders’ insistence that time was of the essence persuaded Fuller to take action. “Paul was telling us, ‘We need to do this now. We need the expansion, we need the space, we want to capitalize before somebody else does. If we can’t get this site, if we can’t get this location in the industrial park, somebody else will. So we’re ready to take it on today,’” Fuller said.
“We spent probably three months working with Paul and his team to make sure we had all the contingencies, details, data…everything we needed to not only make the best decision but make the best structure and put this together in a way that we feel is going to succeed no matter what interest rates go to or what happens in the overall economy,” Fuller added.
Entrepreneurial support
Saunders said construction is moving along nicely so far, and the warehouse should be open by late Q2 or early Q3 next year.
“We’ve been very fortunate with the weather. Danco has done a great job as our general contractor. We’re a little bit ahead of the schedule now. We’ve got the earthwork all done. We’ve started with the concrete foundation. All the steel has been delivered,” he said.
There’s even extra room for future expansion to accommodate the growth of eLuxury and ePackage Supply.
“They actually have a second parcel to the side and behind this facility where they’d be able to put another 150,000 square feet,” Roelle said.
Besides creating jobs, Fuller believes the warehouse project will also help develop a niche in the community.
“E-commerce is something we don’t have a whole lot of in this area,” he said. “People like Paul are the lifeblood of community banks because they’re entrepreneurs doing things in spaces that might be a little bit unique or hidden gems for our area.”
For other entrepreneurs looking to expand or start ventures, Fuller advised using all the resources they can find—from subsidies to grants to government programs to Small Business Administration loans.
“There are a lot of incubator-type programs that can help people not just launch a new business but maybe grow an existing business to the next level,” he said. “Taking advantage of those programs and those resources is important, as well as having an expert in the industry to help guide you through.”
Fuller maintained business owners should evaluate all their options rather than settle for the status quo.
“Don’t get fixated on putting your eggs in one basket and say, ‘Well, that’s always been who I’ve worked with,’ whether it’s a big bank or whomever, maybe it’s even a small bank. There’s a lot of inconsistency in the market, so getting a second opinion is very important,” he said.