Amazon Expands in Texas, Florida – and in Shopping Malls?

Last month, Amazon said it was extending field tests of Scout, its “fully-electric delivery system designed to safely get packages to customers using autonomous delivery devices.” It’s just one of the ways the company is expanding its logistics capabilities.

This month, Amazon announced plans to open new fulfillment centers and delivery stations in Texas and Florida in 2021. There are also reports Amazon is in talks with a mall operator to convert former JCPenney and Sears stores into distribution hubs to deliver packages, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Amazon announced plans to open a fulfillment center in Forney, Texas in 2021. The one million square-foot fulfillment center will be used to fulfill bulky and larger-sized customer items, such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment, and rugs.

Amazon will also open a new 200,000 square-foot delivery station in the city, which is anticipated to launch later in 2020. “Delivery stations power the last mile of Amazon’s order fulfillment process,” Amazon wrote in its announcement on Thursday. “Packages are transported to delivery stations from Amazon fulfillment and sortation centers, and then loaded into vehicles for delivery to customers.”

Amazon will also open a new fulfillment center in Temple Terrace in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. The 600,000 square-foot fulfillment center will open in 2021 and will be used to fulfill smaller customer items such as books, electronics, small household goods and toys.

Amazon will also open a new delivery station in nearby Lutz in 2021 that will power Amazon’s last-mile delivery capabilities to speed up deliveries for customers in Pasco County.

In related news, Amazon said it has hired the first 1,000 employees for its Nashville, Tennessee operations hub. It announced the Center of Excellence plans in November of 2018 which it said would create over 5,000 jobs. The East Coast operations hub is responsible for the company’s customer fulfillment, transportation, supply chain, and similar activities.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.