Walmart Builds $300M Ohio Hub for Furniture and TVs

Walmart plans to spend more than $300 million on a new Ohio fulfillment center built for televisions, furniture and other oversized goods, the company said Sept. 28.

If you run a high-ticket store that sells sofas, TVs, patio sets or anything else that ships on a pallet, the biggest retailer in the country just bought faster delivery on the exact products you sell. Your shoppers will compare your delivery promise to what Walmart can do with a building like this. At Ecommerce Paradise I track this stuff because freight and delivery speed decide whether a big-ticket order converts and whether it stays profitable.

Below: the reported facts, how Walmart, Amazon and Costco got here, what it does to a store’s margin, and five moves to make this week. If you are new to the model, start with my guide to what high-ticket dropshipping is and how to start.

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Walmart’s $300M Ohio Hub Targets TVs and Furniture

The facility will sit at 760 Encore Drive in Turtlecreek Township, Warren County, Ohio, on nearly 100 acres, according to JobsOhio. It will handle larger, non-sortable items including televisions, furniture and oversized merchandise. Walmart said the investment tops $300 million and will create more than 300 jobs.

Karisa Sprague, Walmart U.S. senior vice president of fulfillment operations, said in the announcement: “This new facility will complement our existing network, create hundreds of new jobs in Warren County and help us serve customers even faster.” Kimm Lauterbach, president and CEO of REDI Cincinnati, said Walmart’s investments in Monroe and Turtlecreek Township “reinforce the strength of the I-75 corridor,” per Area Development.

The building complements Walmart’s existing Monroe, Ohio facility at 650 Gateway Boulevard, which employs more than 200 associates, according to Local 12. The project involved Turtlecreek Township, Warren County, the state of Ohio, REDI Cincinnati and Core5 Industrial Partners, and no wage figures or incentives were disclosed in that announcement.

The incentive details came out separately. Per Hoodline, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved a 1.662% job creation tax credit lasting nine years for 315 full-time-equivalent jobs and $19.5 million in new annual payroll. Jobs are expected by Dec. 31, 2029.

Supply Chain Dive reported Oct. 1 that Walmart is restructuring its warehouse portfolio at the same time. It is building a 1.5 million-square-foot warehouse in New York, putting $330 million into Louisiana automation upgrades, and closing facilities in Massachusetts and Illinois. Walmart said the Ohio site will position inventory closer to customers and support growth of its next-day delivery network.

Walmart already has a large Ohio footprint. It operates more than 175 stores, clubs and supply chain facilities in the state with nearly 60,000 associates, per Hoodline, so the company is adding capacity to a network it knows.

Two things are not public. Walmart has not disclosed the building’s square footage or an opening date, and none of the announcements say whether third-party Walmart Marketplace sellers can use it.

Walmart, Amazon and Costco Are All Racing on Bulky Delivery

Oversized delivery has been the hard part of selling furniture online for a decade, and the big players are now building their own answers. Costco bought logistics provider Innovel Solutions for $1 billion in 2020 and now handles about 85% of its big-and-bulky home deliveries in-house, per Supply Chain Dive. It delivered more than 4.5 million big-and-bulky items in fiscal 2024, up 29% from the year before.

Costco CEO Ron Vachris said in January 2025 that the company can “predeploy things around the U.S. and have deliveries made in four days, which a couple of years ago would have taken us two weeks.” That is the benchmark Walmart is chasing with the Ohio hub.

Walmart has been signaling this for two years. Creighton Kiper, the senior vice president who took over its home division in August 2024, said the goal was to double home sales and digital presence by 2030, according to Talk Business & Politics. A building for non-sortable goods is the logistics half of that plan.

Amazon is attacking from a different direction. PYMNTS reports Amazon is investing $6.8 billion to grow same-day hubs from 85 locations to more than 1,000 by 2031. Those hubs would stock about 90,000 high-velocity items such as household essentials, so they are aimed at fast-moving goods rather than sofas. I covered Amazon’s bulky push when it added LTL labels for bulky sellers in October.

The market under all of this is slowing. Armstrong & Associates put big-and-bulky delivery at $10.6 billion growing 5.1% a year through 2027, down from 10.6% over the prior eight years, which I laid out in my August breakdown of the growth slowdown. Slower growth means the winners take share from each other, and Walmart just added capacity.

There is a counterpoint. One building is one building, and the jobs are not due until the end of 2029, which points to a multi-year ramp. The announcements describe Walmart’s own fulfillment network, so a supplier-shipped order from a dropshipping store does not run through this hub. The pressure is on the delivery promise your customer compares you against.

What Walmart’s Ohio Hub Does to a High-Ticket Store’s Margin

Everything from here is my opinion. My read is that this hub changes the comparison shoppers make, not your supply chain. A shopper pricing a $2,400 sectional will see a Walmart listing with an exact delivery date and free shipping, and your store has to answer that. Retail Dive reported Oct. 1 that the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 81.8, a 12-year low, so shoppers are comparing harder right now.

Here is hypothetical math, not reported figures. Say you sell a sectional for $2,400 that costs you $1,650 from the supplier, with $250 in freight. That leaves $500 gross profit, a 20.8% gross margin. If you match a Walmart price 5% lower, you give up $120 and profit drops to $380, down 24%. If freight also climbs 10% to $275, profit lands at $355, down 29% from where you started.

Freight is already moving that way. I tracked FedEx fuel surcharges jumping to 32% in September. Then UPS and FedEx peak surcharges went live with oversize hitting $117. Big retailers absorb that with owned networks, and you do not have one.

Three scenarios, with thresholds. If your product has a near-identical Walmart listing and your price sits more than about 10% above it, expect conversion to drop, and I would not chase it with discounts. If your price is within 5%, compete on delivery clarity and phone support. If you sell configured or specialty items Walmart will never stock, this hub barely touches you.

If you also sell through Walmart Marketplace, watch for any word on whether third-party sellers get access to this building. I would ask my seller support rep directly and not assume either way, because it would change how you price bulky items on that channel.

That last group is where I would build. The stores that hold up are niche stores with products, fitment advice and phone sales a big-box listing cannot match. That is why I keep pushing the high-ticket niches list.

Traffic matters too, so tighten your Google Shopping funnel for high-ticket products before peak. Adobe’s forecast that furniture online sales rise 7.3% this holiday means demand exists. The fight is over who gets it.

Walmart is also under scrutiny on how it prices, which I flagged when it ruled out personalized pricing as the FTC weighed in. Meanwhile an AI shopping study found AI assistants pick big retailers nine times in ten. Big retailers are winning on delivery and on AI recommendations at once, and that combination is hard to fight with price.

Speed is half the story. The other half is trust, and this is where a store like yours can win. A shopper spending $2,400 on a sectional wants to know someone will answer the phone if the delivery goes wrong, and a big-box listing rarely gives them that. Put your phone number in the header, answer it, and train whoever picks up to talk delivery windows and damage claims in plain English.

Cash flow is the quiet risk. When Walmart drops prices to move bulky inventory, your supplier cost does not move with it, and you still owe your ad platforms and your freight carriers on a schedule. A store running 20% gross margin with a 10% ad bill is working on a 10% cushion before software, labor and refunds. Cut the price 5% to match and most of that cushion disappears.

Dropshipping has a built-in advantage here that people forget. You do not have to buy a $300 million building to offer a wide catalog, because your suppliers already hold the inventory. The job is to make sure the suppliers you pick can ship fast and to be honest on the product page about when the order will arrive.

If running that math, the supplier calls and the freight quotes on top of everything else sounds like a second job, that is what my turnkey done-for-you service exists for. My team builds the store with supplier terms and freight rules set up correctly from day one.

Not sure where Walmart’s new hub leaves your delivery promise and pricing? Let’s work through your SKUs and freight numbers together, 1-on-1. Get the coaching details →

Five Moves to Protect Your Big-Ticket Delivery Promise Before Peak

Do these in order before Prime Big Deal Days and the holiday rush. I laid out the sale itself in what store owners do before Oct. 6.

Pull your 20 best-selling SKUs and find the closest Walmart listing for each. Record price, delivery date and shipping cost in a sheet, then repeat weekly. A virtual assistant from OnlineJobs.ph can own this. Flag any SKU where your price sits more than 10% above the Walmart listing.
Quote freight on your five heaviest products with real zip codes. Use Easyship for rate comparison. My guide on how to quote freight without eating the margin covers the method. Compare each quote to what you charge the customer, and fix any product where freight eats more than a quarter of your gross profit.
Put an exact delivery window on every product page and in checkout. Walmart’s promise is a date, so yours should be too. Send tracking through AfterShip. Add a post-purchase delivery flow in Klaviyo.
Ask every supplier for their warehouse locations and ship-by times, and add backups so one slow warehouse does not set your promise. Inventory Source is one place to widen the pool. Wholesale2b is another, and my supplier sourcing guide covers authorized-dealer terms.
Rebuild your margin per SKU with freight and peak surcharges included, not just supplier cost. Finaloop keeps your books current so the real numbers are in front of you. If you want a second set of eyes, book a call at my discovery page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Walmart’s Ohio hub affect dropshipping stores directly?
Not directly. The announcements describe Walmart’s own network, and they do not say third-party sellers can use the building. The effect is indirect: shoppers will expect Walmart-style delivery dates from you.

When will the Ohio facility open?
Walmart has not said. Per Hoodline, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority expects the jobs by Dec. 31, 2029, which suggests a multi-year ramp rather than a fix in time for this holiday season.

Should I match Walmart’s prices on furniture and TVs?
Only where the product is identical and you have margin to give. In my math above, a 5% price match cut gross profit by 24%. Compete on delivery clarity, phone support and fitment advice instead, and see my chargeback prevention guide before you discount aggressively.

Is a 3PL a better answer than supplier dropshipping for bulky goods?
Sometimes. A 3PL gives you control of inventory and delivery dates but ties up cash. My breakdown of 3PL fulfillment in the USA covers when it pays off.

How do I keep shipping software costs under control?
Rate-shop every heavy shipment and keep the rules in one tool. I walked through the setup in how to set up Sendcloud for a high-ticket store.

How do I find suppliers with fast regional warehouses?
Start with my complete guide to sourcing high-ticket dropshipping suppliers and ask each one for a warehouse list and ship-by times.

What niches are safest from big-box bulky delivery?
Specialty and configured products with advice-heavy sales. Grab my free niches list at ecommerceparadise.com/niches for ideas.

Is tariff relief going to help my margins this quarter?
It might on certain SKUs. I listed the products in the US list of 77 Chinese goods named for tariff cuts, so check your catalog against it.

Want my team to scale the store you already have, with freight and fulfillment built into the plan? See the scaling service →

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Trevor Fenner

Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.