VALDOSTA — A little more than a year ago, Spartanburg, S.C.-based Smith Drug Company had narrowed a search for its new distribution center to three cities, none of which was Valdosta. But on Monday, the company celebrated the grand opening of its new Valdosta center in the Azalea West Business Park.

Company President Ken Couch said after learning about all of the things that the city had to offer, Valdosta was clearly the best choice for the company’s third distribution site. “We’ve been servicing our customers from Tampa and below from our distribution center in Spartanburg, and we’ll be glad to move those customers to this center,” he said.

The company distributes pharmaceuticals as well as just about any other item you will find in a drug store to customers in more than a dozen states. Couch said pharmacists place their orders with Smith by 6 p.m. and they have their shipment by mid-morning the next day, cutting down on the amount of inventory they have to carry in-house.

Couch and Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Executive Director Brad Lofton both credited Hahira pharmacist Hugh Chancy with bringing Valdosta to the company’s attention. Chancy has been a customer of Smith’s for more than 10 years, and said when his sales representative told him the company was looking for a site for a new distribution center, “We went to work.”

Chancy said he contacted individuals within the company and “we got the ball rolling. The deal just evolved over several months.”

Smith invested $15.5 million in the 108,000-square-foot distribution center, with more than half of that amount invested in the automation equipment inside. Covering the center from floor to ceiling with storage bins and conveyor belts, the company has created a state-of-the-art, fully automated system to keep track of the more than 14,000 products on its shelves, ensuring that each customer receives exactly the order they requested.

And if the electricity goes out? Smith has a generator that can power the entire plant.

In the center of the distribution center is a highly reinforced, exceptionally secure area where narcotics will be housed. Couch said the federal Drug Enforcement Agency will not even allow photos to be taken of the secure area, all narcotics are heavily guarded and all

orders are tracked.

The center will employ 50 when it’s fully operational, and Couch said he wants the public to know that Smith has jobs available.

“We are dedicated to the community,” he said, explaining that the company always works closely with the local United Way, matching employees’ contributions, as well as other organizations.

Dignitaries from the community and from the company’s headquarters were on hand Monday at the grand-opening celebration, with Mayor John Fretti and Lowndes County Commissioner Richard Lee officially welcoming Smith to town.

Lofton said the center is further proof that Valdosta is “an emerging logistics center,” citing the number of large distribution sites located in the county. According to Lofton, the Authority offered approximately $300,000 in incentives to the company to complete the water/sewer line and put in utility poles and lighting.

Smith, a division of the JM Smith Corp., is a family- and employee-owned distributor, in business since 1944. The company maintains distribution sites in Spartanburg and Paragould, Ark., and expects the Valdosta site to be open for business in late March or early April.