Arrow expands warehouse space in Reno

Arrow’s recently signed lease for an additional 90,000-square-feet of warehouse space near its Maestro Drive headquarters gives the south Reno electronics components and computer products distributor some much-needed room to grow, says John Gabel, vice president of distribution services.

Gabel knows a little about Arrow’s growth — he was the company’s first northern Nevada employee when Arrow opened a 180,000-square-foot warehouse on Spice Island Drive in 1990. Today, the firm headquartered at Englewood, Colo., operates in Reno out of a 500,000-square-foot facility that employs more than 500, with an additional 150 employees at its Stead value-added recovery operations.

Arrow has made several notable northern Nevada acquisitions over the past three years: Intechtra 2010, and Redemtech in 2012. Both companies were combined under one roof in Stead and are part of Arrow’s VAR group, which recovers valuable components from obsolete electronics equipment.

The additional space on Maestro Drive positions Arrow for its next phase of growth, Gabel says.

“With the recent completion of consolidating the operations of two large facilities, it provided us an opportunity to work with the landlord to gain some space in closer proximity to our current operations,” Gabel says. “Electronic asset recycling has become a more important part of the overall life cycle of electronic equipment and really is a new business segment for Arrow.”

The new building will accommodate additional warehousing operations to the company’s core facility, a key component in Arrow’s North American operations. The south Reno distribution center services all Arrow’s major electronics component manufacturing clients. The Reno team also provides programming services, wherein engineers add logic or intelligence to semiconductors upon client request.

“We have really grown our operations there over the years and have made Reno the centerpiece of our North American logistics strategy,” Gabel says.

Founded in 1935, publicly traded Arrow is a Fortune 500 company with more than 470 global locations employing more than 16,500 people.