MARION — Tuesday was a grand day for Bob and Betty Bunch, as BWI Companies, Inc., the business they founded 60 years ago, celebrated the opening of a 90,000 square feet distribution center in Marion.

“We started this business with $1,000,” Bob Bunch said, reflecting back to 1958 when he and Betty opened a farm supply store in Texarkana, Texas.

“We didn’t know whether we had the next meal,” he said with a laugh.

The Bunches have surely had many nice meals since BWI’s humble beginnings. The company, which distributes lawn, garden and horticulture products, has expanded to 18 locations across the Southeast and Midwest, employing more than 600 people.

“It’s been great,” Bob Bunch said.

The distribution center in Marion, one of eight, serves the southern half of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, as well as the panhandle of Florida.

“It’s a wonderful location,” Betty Bunch said with a wide smile. “And the people here are super-nice.”

The Bunches’ sons, Jim Bunch and Robert Bunch, serve as co-presidents and CEOs of the company. They both agreed with their mother’s thoughts on their reception in East Mississippi.

“It’s been great,” Jim Bunch said. “From the first time we met with Bill (Hannah, president and CEO of The East Mississippi Business Development Corporation) and Terrell Temple (of Engineering Plus).

“It means a lot for us to be here,” Robert Bunch said. “They’ve made us very welcome.”

The center covers 90,000 square feet, which includes an 81,000 square feet warehouse and 9,000 square feet of office space. It employs about 60 people, with 38 working on site and the remainder traveling the region on sales calls.