Beginning in 1992 Lowe's started building massive 1-million-square-foot distribution centers to regulate the flow of goods to stores.

FORBES: Merchant Princes

Home Depot, IKEA, Target and Wal-Mart all have distribution centres of more than 1m square feet (100, 000 square metres) in the Savannah area to handle cargo coming through the port, which sits at a nexus of interstate highways and railway lines that provide quick access to the south-east and Midwest.

ECONOMIST: Savannah's port

Dell now owns 12 manufacturing and distribution centers, including 5 million-square-feet of space and 850, 000 square-feet of leased space, according to its latest annual report.

FORBES: Computer Wars

Cuti even tackled the distribution nightmare, consolidating four warehouses in three states into one 500, 000-square-foot warehouse in Queens, N.

FORBES: Street Smarts

As a result, the company just bought a distribution center in North Carolina and plans to double its size to more than 800, 000 square feet.

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