About Us
Serving companies across the nation for three generations.
Still rolling after all these years.
Since 1979, we’ve been on a mission to help businesses run more efficiently while growing our own. Over the last four decades, we’ve done just that. We’ve come a long way–from humble beginnings in the garage to three manufacturing and distribution facilities–and we have the experience and capacity to ensure that our clients’ needs are met.
Bob and Dodie Unnerstall start National Cart in the garage of their North St. Louis County home. They offer on-site shopping cart steam cleaning and repair to local companies.
National Cart moves out of the garage and into 3,000 square feet of space. With room to grow their services, the company begins manufacturing cart corrals and custom solutions for its growing list of clients.
With several years of experience repairing the carts used to stock retail shelves, National Cart sees the need for better, more efficient solutions. So they start making them.
As production needs expand, so does the need for space. The growing company moves into a larger space with enough room for the first automated shopping cart recycling system.
Known as the largest shopping cart in the world, Bob Unnerstall builds the “Big Cart,” a 13’ shopping cart with enough room for 360 bags of groceries. What began as a mascot quickly gains popularity in parades and at store-opening events.
The carts aren’t the only things getting bigger. National Cart relocates again to expand manufacturing square footage to 15,000 square feet in order to accommodate an aluminum product line and five new employees.
The rapidly growing business moves out of the city to a five-acre location St. Charles County. The new manufacturing plant comes with 30,000 square feet of production space.
Once again, the company expands to three separate buildings totaling over 100,000 square feet. The company also opens a second facility in Riverside, California to serve the growing list of national accounts.
In a new, 168,000 square foot facility, National Cart incorporates more advanced technology and green environmental considerations. The California facility moves to Sparks, Nevada, with 25,000 square feet of manufacturing space to better serve national accounts.
A new 100,000+ square foot addition allows for an enhanced aluminum manufacturing line featuring a closed loop cleaning system.
National Cart is awarded a Star B.R.I.T.E. Award which stands for Business Recognized in True Excellence. The award recognizes the contributions of leading businesses in St. Charles County.
With plenty of room to manufacture material handling solutions—and a long list of clients who need them—National Cart completes a national rollout of 250,000 custom distribution carts over a two-year time frame. The company also partners with the MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering) to implement Lean enterprise strategies that eliminate waste and increase efficiency.
National Cart defines an operating philosophy–Safer, Better, Faster–that guides internal and external conduct along with our customer relationships.
National Cart supports green initiatives with the development of their Recoated Shopping Cart Program. Carts are stripped down, repaired, given a fresh powder coating and new accessories to appear and perform like new. The Nevada facility relocates to Reno to accommodate growth throughout the western United States.
With plenty of reasons to celebrate their 40th Anniversary, National Cart adds an additional 60,000 square feet to their St. Charles facility to accommodate their growing needs.
National Cart expands and opens a third location in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to better serve their clients’ needs across the country.
On our 45th Anniversary, National Cart purchases a new facility in Olyphant, Pennsylvania. Moving from Wilkes-Barre to better serve our East Coast customers.
National Cart Company, a leading provider of material handling equipment, is proud to announce that it has achieved the prestigious ISO 9001:2015 certification. This certification reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to maintaining the highest standards of quality management and continuous improvement across all aspects of its business.