Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. to construct state-of-the-art beverage distribution facility in Florida

04/03/05 Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc., the nation's largest wine, spirits, beer and non-alcoholic beverage distributor with operations in 19 states, announced it would commence construction of a new 653,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art beverage distribution facility in Lakeland (Polk County), beginning with a blue-ribbon, ground-breaking ceremony on March 18, 2005.

Designed to be the centerpiece of a customer- and supplier-focused distribution strategy, this new facility of Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida, a division of Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc., represents a significant commitment to all of our supply-chain partners, according to Wayne E. Chaplin, President and Chief Operating Officer of Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. Construction is expected to be complete on the project by early fall of this year, Mr. Chaplin added.

Sited near Interstate 4 and about 35 miles from downtown Tampa, the new 80.5-acre beverage distribution center in Lakeland is designed to offer unsurpassed distribution services to the state's chain and independent on- and off-premise retail customers of Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida, which is the state's largest wine and spirits distributor, according to Steve Power, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida.

Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. is the nation's largest wine and spirits distributor, with current operations in 12 states and pending acquisitions in 7 states. The multistate distributor currently operates in: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina; and has pending acquisitions in the additional states of: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.

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