Cache and carry.

• Position: TRIAD REGION

Wal-Mart Stores will open a perishable-grocery distribution center near Mebane, investing more than $100 million and hiring 450 workers by 2018. It will serve more than 120 Walmart stores in North Carolina and surrounding states. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer has topped BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA'S annual ranking of largest private employers in the state since 2002 (page 57). It already employs more than 52,000 people in 186 Walmart and Sam's Club stores across the state and at distribution centers in Henderson, Hope Mills and Shelby. Alamance County and the cities of Graham and Mebane will buy the 186-acre site, valued at more...