D&H Canada has moved a little bit north, and into a brand new facility that the distributor says will better support the kind of growth it has been seeing and expects to continue to see.

While much of the channel was shut down for the recent Victoria Day holiday weekend, things were a little more hectic than the average long weekend at D&H Canada, said general manager Greg Tobin.

“We shipped our last products from the old facility on Thursday night, stayed open to take orders on the Friday, moved all our inventory into the new racking, and were back up and running for opening on Tuesday,” Tobin said. “It was quite a SWAT team that hit the building, including hundreds of trucks for the move.”

The move gives D&H almost twice the space it had at its previous facility, and sees it move far enough north to technically change hometowns from distribution-heavy Mississauga to bordering Brampton. At about 100,000 square feet, the new facility has more dedicated inbound and outbound lages, and a much lager receiving area. While processes have changed, Tobin said the level of automation remains similar.

“We’re really liking it here. It’s a lot more luxurious for our employees,” he said.

The move comes on the heels of the distributor’s announcement that it saw 18 per cent growth in its recently-completed fiscal year, and the combination of the new location and the trends he’s seeing in the market has Tobin looking to “put the pedal down” when it comes to growth forecasting the just-started fiscal year to be between 21 and 25 per cent growth.

The biggest growth engines for the company continue to be its traditional stronghold in the SMB market and its growing retail business. While the latter has been a major focus in recent months, the SMB business continues to be the distributor’s major focus. Retail is growing, but likely will represent just 20 per cent of D&H’s business in Canada, while other areas of focus (education, DMR) remain smaller still.

“SMB and retail will continue to become a bigger part of the overall mix for us,” Tobin said.

Moving into the new facility opens the doors to the distributor exploring new adjacencies for both its SMB and retail businesses, Tobin said. While it had brought on some additional product lines outside of its traditional IT focus in recent years, that has been slowed over the last six months by overcrowding in the old warehouse, Tobin said. With that problem solved by the move, it’s time to start looking at new areas. Tobin mentioned wearable devices, home and outdoor products, and home automation and security as areas he’s interested in expanding.