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German supermarket giant Kaufland will open its first dedicated Australian distribution centre at the Merrifield Business Park in Melbourne's north.
Kaufland will construct a 110,000 sqm purpose-built distribution centre to service their Australian stores on a 28-hectare site in Merrifield.
The facility will include an extensive temperature-controlled storage area, a 40-metre-high bay storage, and a 3,600 sqm office.
In total, Kaufland is investing $450 million into the project which is expected to bring around 600 jobs to the local area upon completion in 2020.
The Merrifield Business Park is in close proximity to the Hume Freeway and is just 30km from the Melbourne CBD.
Kaufland will join Dulux, D'Orsogna and Steritech at Merrifield which is fast becoming a hub of distribution and logistics.
A Kaufland spokesperson says the new distribution centre is an important move for its Australian business.
"Our new state of the art distribution centre at Merrifield Business Park will be the company's single biggest investment in Australia and enable Kaufland's expansion," says the spokesperson.
This new distribution centre will support the launch of Kaufland's new "hypermarkets".
Kaufland has been scouting the Australian market for locations for its hypermarkets which are typically four to five times larger than its future local competitors, Coles and Woolies.
Its first site was bought for $25 million on the fringe of Adelaide's CBD, although it is believed Dandenong will become its flagship store when it finally opens its doors late this year.
Its stores have been compared to Costco at around 20,000 square metres where it sells everything from groceries to electrical goods and hardware.
It is now a global supermarket chain with more than 1,230 stores in Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia and it employs more than 150,000 staff. Australia will be its first English-speaking market.
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