Beer distributor closing Bastrop center

Capitol Wright Distributing will close its alcohol distribution center in Bastrop, which formerly was the company’s headquarters, but almost all of its workers will be retained and relocated to its new Manor facility, the beer distributor’s operations director said last week.

In a letter to Bastrop City Council members and City Manager Lynda Humble, the company said that certain employees affected by the closure “may have an opportunity to be hired or transferred to the company’s new facility.”

Humble announced the company’s plan to close its Bastrop branch at 509 Texas 71 West during a City Council meeting and said that 63 employees would be affected.

The company’s sales and merchandise workers will continue to operate in the Bastrop area, said William Harris, chief financial officer for Butler Family Interests, which owns the Manor facility. The company has offered positions to the warehouse workers who would like to transfer to Manor. Three administrative employees are being laid off, he said.

“Capitol Wright Distributing is certainly not closing the business, but we are simply consolidating all operations into the new facility at 10095 (U.S.) 290 East in Manor,” said Jane Wright, the operations manager.

Wright Distributing Co. was created in January 1984 by Louis and Virginia Wright, who relocated the company to Texas 71 in Bastrop in 1984. Over the years, the company expanded to 13 counties and distributed multiple brands of beverages, the company said.

Capitol Wright Distributing LLC was formed in October 2014 and immediately purchased Saunders Distributing in LaGrange. In January 2015, Wright Distributing Co. and Capital Beverage/Coors of Austin merged under the umbrella of Capitol Wright Distributing.

In late 2015, the company purchased Keg 1 Austin, and the four entities formed a new wholesale beverage distribution company to service 14 counties in Central Texas with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Wright said over the past two years it became apparent the company’s customers would be better served with all 700 of its employees reporting to one entity, a new facility on the southeast corner of U.S. 290 and Texas 130 in Manor, about 25 miles from Bastrop.

Harris said the Bastrop facility would likely close sometime after July 4.

ANDY SEVILLA/ BASTROP ADVERTISER Capitol Wright Distributing is shuttering its Bastrop warehouse and shifting alcohol distribution operations to a new facility in Manor. The company said most of its employees in Bastrop will relocate.