Memphis Economy and Business
Major Industries and Commercial Activity
At the center of a major distribution network, Memphis works from a broad economic base as it continues to diversify its employment opportunities. Historically a trading center for cotton and hardwood, Memphis is the headquarters for major manufacturing, services, and other business concerns.
The city is home to three Fortune 500 company headquarters: FedEx, AutoZone, and International Paper. FedEx began its operations in 1973, with 14 small aircraft delivering packages from Memphis International Airport. Today, FedEx averages more than 6 million shipments per day, and serves more than 220 countries and territories.
AutoZone opened its first Auto Shack in Forrest City, Arkansas, in 1979; the company is now a leading auto parts retailer, with more than 3,400 stores nationwide.
International Paper, organized in 1878, is the largest paper and forest products company in the world, with operations in more than 40 countries.
Memphis's economy is diverse. Services centered in Memphis include banking and finance (First Tennessee, National Commerce Bancorp, Union Planters); real estate (Belz Enterprises, Boyle Investment Co., and Weston Co.); nonprofits including the world's largest waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization (Ducks Unlimited); and a restaurant chain (Backyard Burgers).
Science and technology business is very well represented in Memphis; Brother Industries USA, Buckman Laboratories, Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Morgan-Keegan, Sharp Manufacturing of America, Smith & Nephew, and Wright Medical Technologies all have headquarters there. Memphis is considered a mid-South retail center and an attractive tourist destination.
Its early and continued role as a major cotton market makes agribusiness an economic mainstay in Memphis. Forty percent of the nation's cotton crop is traded in Memphis, home of three of the world's largest cotton dealers: Dunavant Enterprises, Hohenburg Brothers (now Cargill Cotton), and the Allenberg Company. Memphis is important in other areas of agribusiness also.
The city has long been established as a prime marketing center for hardwood, as well as wood and paper products. Memphis concerns are also major processors of soybeans, meats, and other foods. Enhancing Memphis's position at the center of agribusiness is Agricenter International, an $8 million, 140,000 square foot exhibition center for agricultural exhibitions, experimentation, and information exchange. It brings together the most technologically advanced methods of farming and farm equipment available in one location. The exhibition hall, where independent farm-related companies (chemical concerns, irrigation businesses, farm management companies, etc.) lease space, is totally computerized, allowing farmers and consumers to ask specific information of the computer and receive specific answers. The facility also includes about 1,000 acres of farmland, 120 acres of field displays, and a 600-seat amphitheater. Agricenter, a nonprofit entity that operates on a management contract with the Shelby County Agricenter Commission, was built amid 2,000 acres of old Shelby County penal farm land, in the eastern section of the county about 30 minutes from downtown Memphis.
Memphis business activities are facilitated by the city's Uniport Association, which coordinates a Foreign Trade Zone, and river, air, rail, and road transportation services into a top-ranked distribution network.
In the late 1990s Memphis made a name for itself as a center for movie making. Movies filmed there since then includeMystery Train, Great Balls of Fire, The Firm, The Client, The People Vs. Larry Flynt, A Family Thing, The Rain-maker, Cast Away, 21 Grams, Forty Shades of Blue, and Walk the Line.
