Fairfield County Amazon warehouse may open in spring
A new Amazon warehouse in Stratford will open in 2020, just not on Jan. 1.
Mary Dean, director of economic development for Stratford, said the ecommerce behemoth is expecting to open “spring, summer, or fall,” after it was initially announced the company would open on the first day of the year.
The Seattlebased digital giant is opening a new 200,000squarefoot distribution center at 500 and 600 Long Beach Blvd. after signing a sevenyear lease. Once open, the warehouse will be the company’s first distribution and fulfillment center in Fairfield County.
Dean said the company is still figuring out how to structure the operation, and has yet to settle on a number of new positions to hire.
The Amazon Jobs website currently has two jobs listed for the Stratford facility: area manager of logistics and shift manager of logistics.
Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Dean said Amazon representatives have reached out to the town and will connect with officials again 90 days before the launch of the center. That’s when the company will make a big hiring push, which will likely include a regional job fair.
“It sounds like they’re going to work with the town to see how we best want to get the word out,” Dean said.
She said jobs at the location would include management positions, as well as sorters.
Dean added that the company is looking to partner with delivery providers in the area to drive Amazon trucks. Deliveries from the center will go to all locations within a 60minute drive from the facility, she said.
Dean said reaction so far from local businesses has been overwhelmingly positive.
“People are really excited about it,” she said.
It’s unclear how much the company would have to pay in taxes to operate out of the Long Beach Boulevard building, but nearby FedEx on Lordship Boulevard paid roughly $243,500 in taxes last fiscal year.
This summer, Amazon also opened a 1.2 millionsquarefoot fulfillment center in North Haven, the second of its kind in Connecticut. Around the time of the opening, the company said it was looking to hire 1,800 people for various positions.
North Haven’s First Selectman Michael Freda said that number was underestimated, however, as more than 2,000 people have been hired, and he expects the company to have 3,000 employees by the end of the year.
The company employs about 613,000 people nationwide.
Freda called Amazon’s opening in North Haven a “resounding success.”
He said he couldn’t predict the impact the new warehouse would have on Stratford but said the North Haven location has not just provided new jobs, but reenergized local businesses.