BWI opens in Marion

The small town of Marion just added a huge addition to their city. The EMBDC held a ribbon cutting for the new BWI facility that is in the heart of downtown Marion.

“This is the first industry we’ve had of this magnitude in the county. It’s just great development for this area. It just sparks new life into the community in where they said you can’t get it done and then BWI shows up; great facility, great look, great personality… We’re going to try and see if we can get more types of these industries in this area.’’ -Mayor Elvis Hudson, Marion

B-W-I is company that provides supplies for businesses such as whole-sale, lawn and garden, farm and ranch, pest control, golf courses, among other things. The co-president’s parents started the company decades ago and were in attendance today.”

“Back in 1958, they borrowed $1,000 from my grandmother actually, and they made a down payment on a small feed and seed and store and started in the retail business. Over the past 50 or 60 years we’ve grown to the size of the company we are now with multiple locations and over 600 employees.” -Robert Bunch, Co-Pres., CAO, BWI

The facility has brought dozens of new jobs to the city, and they plan on hiring more people as they expand their business and serve more people in the area.

“Everyone is looking for a better job, a different job. They need more jobs, and BWI came in and filled that slot. I believe they’ve got 60 plus employees hired as of today and looking for room to hire even more as they expand their business in the future.” -Mayor Hudson

“I wanted to feel like we were part of the town and part of the community, so we chose local engineers, architects, and contractors. The whole project created jobs for Lauderdale county, Marion, and Meridian. We just wanted feel like we were part of this community.” -Bunch