Diamond Comic Distributors is adding 75,000 square feet adjacent to its 600,000 main facility in Olive Branch, Mississippi, the company announced Wednesday.  The new facility will house weekly shipment processing for Olive Branch customers, which will free up room in the main facility for reorder processing and inventory storage. 

The 12.5% increase in space is in addition to a new 100,000 square foot Olive Branch facility that Diamond added late last year to house and process reorders for slower-selling backlist items.

New Vice President Operations John Wurzer explained the move.  “In recent years, the comic book specialty market has seen significant growth in both sales and the number of SKUs which we distribute,” Wurzer said. “Diamond is investing in more space, as well as in enhanced materials handling and order processing systems, to accommodate this higher volume, and to prepare for continued, robust growth in the future.”

First half 2015 comics and graphic novel sales through Diamond were up over 13% (see “Marvel Continues Summer Domination”).

Wurzer is new in his role because former Diamond VP-Operations Cindy Fournier left the company last week, citing “philosophical differences” (see “Cindy Fournier Stepping Down at Diamond”).