Approximately 700 customers and local dignitaries –– including Horace Shipp, mayor of Texarkana, and Elaine Chriestenson, Ambassadors chairman of the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce –– flocked to Warrior of Arkansas as the company held its grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 9 to showcase its brand new facility located at 1800 Jim Walter Dr. in Texarkana, AR, in the Robert Maxwell Industrial Park.

Attendees had an opportunity to tour the new 57,000-sq.-ft. facility, enjoy some great entertainment and feast on catfish with all the “trimmins.” Don Switzer, John Deere division manager, key Deere representatives and representatives from other Warrior locations turned out to join the staff of Warrior of Arkansas in the festivities.

Product displays and demonstrations, thousands of dollars worth of giveaways and prizes, and lots of good old Texarkana hospitality were the order of the day for the Warrior of Arkansas staff. The big winner of the day was Herman Brown, of Harrington Forestry in Ashdown, AR, who had the lucky ticket number and won a John Deere L100 riding mower.

This new facility was a result of many years of planning and more than quadrupled the amount of space of the previous branch facility. The 30,000-sq.-ft. service area is served by a 10-ton overhead crane system and has 14 service doors for ease of drive thru service. A separate 11,000-sq.-ft. building houses a wash rack and paint booth. The facility is located on a 47-acre parcel of land with plenty of space for machine inventory storage and will serve as the company’s main distribution point for construction and logging equipment in the Arkansas market.

The 11,000 sq. ft. dedicated to parts warehousing will eventually house an anticipated $3 million in parts inventory.

With the big increase in facility size, accompanied by increases in business that the Texarkana branch has been experiencing, management plans include a fast track towards increasing staffing levels.

Owner Gene Taylor started Warrior Tractor in 1967 in Tuscaloosa, AL, and moved into the Arkansas market in 1998 under the name, Warrior of Arkansas Inc. as an authorized sales, service, parts and rental distributor for John Deere, Hydro-Ax and Prentice. Plans are already in the works to build new branch facilities in Rogers and Monticello, AR.

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