Online retailer Zulily is shutting down, cutting 274 jobs at an Obetz distribution center

Zulily, a once high-flying retailer, is shutting down, which includes closing a distribution center in Obetz that will eliminate 274 jobs.

In addition to the distribution operations at 3051 Creekside Parkway, which has a Lockbourne mailing address, other media reports indicate Zulily is closing a distribution center in McCarren, Nevada, and its headquarters in Seattle.

On Sunday, Zulily’s website blared, “FINAL SALE. All items must go.”

Zulily’s distribution center in the Columbus area operates in a portion of a 737,054-square-foot warehouse on more than 37 acres in Obetz and Hamilton Township that is owned by WPT Creekside Parkway LP in Hopkins, Minnesota, according to Franklin County Auditor’s Office records.

The layoffs at the distribution centers in central Ohio and in Nevada will take place in February, according to required notices Zulily filed with both states.

The company, which got its start in 2010, grew quickly.

In 2011, the company announced it had picked central Ohio for distribution operations that created 600 jobs over three years, and in 2014, the region landed a call center expected to add 900 jobs.

In 2013, Zulily went public. By early 2014, it was doing $1 billion in annual sales and had a market valuation of around $7 billion, according to The Seattle

Times.

The company sold apparel, decor items and other merchandise via shortterm “flash” sales, according to the newspaper.

But the growth faded quickly with the rise of Amazon and other retailers. It was sold in 2015 to Liberty Interactive-QVC, later renamed Qurate for a reported $2.4 billion, the paper said.

It was sold again in May to Regent, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, for an undisclosed sum.