Ala. Home Depot distribution center opens

  BESSEMER, Ala. (AP) - The Home Depot has opened a
657,000-square-foot distribution center in south Jefferson County.
    The first 179 employees hired for the facility were decked out
in orange shirts at grand opening ceremonies on Wednesday.
    The $33 million distribution center in McCalla, which the
Atlanta-based home improvement retailer has dubbed a “rapid deploy
ment center,“ will serve up to 150 Home Depot stores as far away
as Arkansas and Missouri.
    The company says it will hire several hundred workers for the
center.