Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is not taking over the city of Phoenix or the state of Arizona. It just appears that way.
The Seattle-based e-tailer said Wednesday that it will open 11 sites across the Arizona capital’s metro area by the end of 2020, adding 3,000 full- and part-time jobs to the company’s payroll. The sites include seven delivery stations and two additional facilities that support the company’s fulfillment operations in Avondale, Chandler, Goodyear, Mesa, Phoenix and Tempe, Amazon said. The delivery stations augment the last mile of Amazon’s order fulfillment process, it said.
Later this year, Amazon will open its first statewide cross-dock facility, a 600,000-square-foot operation in Phoenix that will accept large-scale orders and then redistribute the inventory across the company’s network. Construction is underway on an 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Goodyear, where employees and robots will collaborate to pick, pack and ship such small items as books, electronics and toys. The center, also expected to launch by the end of the year, will create more than 1,000 full-time jobs.
In 2021, Amazon will open more sites across the state, including a cross-dock facility in Goodyear and a delivery station in Surprise, the company said.
The feverish construction activity in Arizona is part of Amazon’s broad plan to add 50% more capacity of all kinds by the start of the peak shipping season. Amazon is bracing for an unprecedented peak as seasonal activity combines with highly elevated e-commerce levels as more people shop online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Company executives admitted on the last earnings conference call that it has run out of space due to a continued surge in volumes, and that capacity additions are its second-highest priority behind the continued health and safety of its workers.
Amazon began operations in Arizona in 2007 with 300 full-time employees. It now has 17,500 full- and part-time workers statewide.