The latest addition to the Buckhorn Industrial Park held an open house and party Friday morning to celebrate its new home in Orange County: STIHL’s mid-Atlantic distribution center.
The power tool manufacturer welcomed its corporate leaders, local government dignitaries and other community members for a rescheduled event at 6485 Buckhorn Industrial Parkway in Mebane — which featured a “log-cutting” ceremony, tours of the facility, lawn games, live music, and a spread of German food in honor of STIHL’s namesake founder. People took tours of the facility, which is more than 265,000 square feet, where STIHL products are brought from the Virginia Beach manufacturing and U.S. headquarters. The industrial park building represents an expansion for the company compared to its prior Orange County home at Hillsborough’s 315 Executive Court, where they’d operated since 1999.
Local STIHL leaders use their power tools to cut logs as an alternative to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the STIHL center in Mebane on Friday. (Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.
Friday’s event was meant to be held six months ago — the week Hurricane Helene hit the southeast and much of North Carolina. STIHL’s regional leadership decided against holding the open house and celebration to both respect the gravity of the storm and to begin preparations for helping the response effort. The expanded warehouse space allowed for the distribution center to be an effective site for staging aid and fulfilling the wave of demand for equipment to help clear storm debris.
STIHL Director of Branch Operations Charles Bailey said, though, that he could not have asked for a better day to hold the celebration.
“This grand opening event represents an exciting milestone for us here at Mid-Atlantic [STHIL],” he said while addressing the crowd. “With our new facility, we have over five times the storage capacity of the old facility, four times the number of dock doors, and three times the space for training, conferences, and tech services. It is a game-changer in our ability to service our dealers and customers today, with enough reserve to support our growth objectives for the future.”
As one of STIHL’s 11 regional branches and distributors in the country, the Orange County site serves more than 1,000 of the brand’s authorized dealers in the southeast and up the Atlantic Coast. The facility receives shipments five days a week from STIHL’s manufacturers and holds the products — including a variety of chainsaws, lawnmowers, branch trimmers, and more landscaping tools — at the warehouse before fulfilling requests from the STIHL stores.
A STIHL warehouse manager gives a tour to visitors of the warehouse and storage portion of the new Mebane facility. (Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
STIHL products range from lawnmowers and chainsaws to power-washing equipment and gardening tools. Many of the products were displayed outside the Mebane facility for Friday’s open house. (Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
Mebane Mayor Ed Hooks, who spoke at Friday’s event, said the reach of this distribution center across several states reflects how the Buckhorn Economic Development District is continuing to build its reputation as “a center radius for not only the mid-Atlantic region, but also the United States’ east coast.” He also said he believes STIHL’s commitment to selling from its own stores and smaller brands compared to big box stores to be an appealing part of the company that aligns with his community’s approach to business.
“This means that not only does Mid-Atlantic [STIHL’s] new facility in Mebane benefit our local Mebane economy, but they positively impact small businesses,” said Hooks. “They do not have a focus on Wall Street, but they have a focus on Main Street and local homes.”
Orange County Commissioners Sally Greene also spoke, and thanked STIHL for continuing to remain in the Orange County community for this expansion — saying it affirms the confidence businesses are placing in the county as a place to operate and live. She also pointed to the educations benefits, between the tax revenue that will go toward Orange County’s schools and the facility’s partnerships with the local campus of Durham Technical Community College.
“As you expand and look to the future,” Greene added, “we appreciate the progress you’re making on environmental goals that resonate with our climate action goals. Particularly, your embrace of electric technology you’re increased carbon offsets of [carbon dioxide] captured in agroforestry, and your use of solar and other renewable energy resources.”
STIHL becomes the latest international company to set up shop in the Buckhorn Industrial Park off West Ten Road, where Orange County has zoned to encourage such industrial development. The area has also constructed and leased buildings to Medline for distributing medical supplies, ThermoFisher Scientific for manufacturing pipette tips, and Morinaga for production of its HI-CHEW candy.
Beyond Friday’s party, STIHL is also preparing for a bigger celebration on the horizon, according to xxx. 2026 will mark the company’s 100th anniversary, as it started in Germany when Andreas Stihl developed and patented the first gasoline powered chainsaw.
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STIHL Holds Open House, Celebration For New Orange County Distribution Center in Mebane Chapelboro.com.
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