MONROE — Merchandise is now moving in to a new area distribution center that will supply more than 100 Home Depot stores.

The ribbon was cut at a ceremony Wednesday, Aug. 19 for the grand opening of the $33.9 million Home Depot Rapid Deployment Center — a 657,600-square-foot building located at Corridor 75 Premier Logistics Park off Gateway Boulevard near Ohio 63 and Interstate 75. It will supply 110 stores located in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region that includes Ohio and the surrounding states, said Ken Roe, general manager of the Northern Division Supply Chain.

Roe, 42, of Mason, said the center will start off with 109 hourly associates and 43 people in leadership positions that will work two shifts Monday through Friday. It is expected to increase tractor trailer traffic on the Single Point Urban Interchange currently under construction on Ohio 63 and Interstate 75 in Monroe.

“Trucks may get a little delayed trying to get in here initially, but we have a slow ramp driving in. We’re not going to just turn the lights on and ‘bam’ we get hit. It’s going to be a metered boarding of vendors and stores to help bring volume up gradually,” said Roe, who has 20 years of retail distribution experience.

The Monroe distribution center is one of about 20 launching nationwide by the end of 2010 as part of a larger strategy to improve the big-box retailer’s supply chain, he said.

The Monroe location is the eighth to be constructed, Roe said.

He said all the employees are ready to get to work.

“The group of associates we have in here and group of leaders are very excited and energized to be a part of the Home Depot, part of their great culture and they’re excited to get going,” he said.

Roe, a native of Portsmouth, joined the Atlanta-based retailer more than a year ago.

He majored in transportation logistics at The Ohio State University and graduated in 1988 with a bachelor of science degree in business administration.

Home Depot is the world’s largest home-improvement specialty retailer with more than 2,200 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China.