By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
"There's somebody out there, somebody go sell something." That was the quote selected to honor William J. Miller at the new Miller's of Claflin and Ashley Distribution Center in Salina named in his honor. The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting at the facility Wednesday. Miller's of Claflin Owner Remington Miller said the distribution center may be 80 minutes away, but it will benefit customers in all seven Miller's locations.
"Every Tuesday and Friday, we do transfers," he said. "Basically, even though it's in Salina, if we have it stocked there, we'll be able to get it to the customer's home, regardless of which store you buy, within a couple of days. We're the only stocking dealer outside of Wichita, Topeka, and Kansas City in the state."
The William J. Miller Ashley HomeStore Distribution Center is 50,000 square feet of actual space, but with rack space, has the equivalent of double that. The new space not only allows for better inventory but will also free up space in other locations.
"Our current warehouse also has a Clearance Center attached, and we're going to be converting all that to showroom," Miller said. "The Furniture Clearance Center is at around 6,000 square feet, and we're expanding that to 18,000 and taking our warehouse out of that and moving it to the new facility."
Miller said the new distribution center will also allow the supplier to buy in larger quantities and pass those savings onto the customer. Miller's of Claflin, founded in 1903, still has its original store in Claflin, and now has Mattress Solutions stores in Great Bend, Hays, and Salina. Miller's also operates Furniture Clearance Center stores in Hays and Salina.