Sweetwater Announces Move to Expanded Quarters

Sweetwater founder and CEO Chuck Surack today announced the Fort Wayne company's upcoming move to a substantially larger facility. The music and audio retailer has purchased a portion of the North American Van Lines campus, a 37,000 square foot building residing on 13 acres at the intersection of Kroemer Road and US Highway 30.

In addition to housing Sweetwater's nationwide sales operation, the company will build a significantly enlarged state-of-the-art distribution center, a media-rich auditorium and advanced technical training center, and an expanded retail store. Sweetwater currently has more than 200 employees and expects to add up to 120 full-time employees by 2009 to handle projected annual sales of more than $150 million.

"Sweetwater' s explosive growth has resulted in a need for significant expansion of our facilities," Surack stated. "This new site will give us greatly increased warehouse and shipping space, plus room to grow our retail, sales, marketing, recording, and financial departments."

Sweetwater will take possession of the Kroemer Road building October 1, and Surack estimates that the construction, remodeling, and moving process will take approximately one year. "We plan a $6 million investment in our facilities over the next year, followed by an additional $2 million in 2008," he explained.

The company has operated at its current location on Bass Road for 15 of its 27 years in Fort Wayne. During that time, Sweetwater has undergone four expansions of its office, distribution, and retail space.

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