Amazon’s first fulfilment centre and second delivery station in the Edmonton area opened in August, which the company says has created more than 600 full-time jobs in Alberta.
The new customer fulfilment centre in Leduc County is Amazon’s second fulfilment facility in Alberta. The first is in Rocky View County and employs about 1,500 full-time associates. There are two delivery stations in Calgary and there are plans to open a new sorting centre in Balzac.
The Leduc centre is Amazon’s 11th in Canada.
The company says it now employs more than 2,500 full- and part-time employees throughout the province.
READ MORE: New Amazon warehouse facility to open in southern Alberta
Workers at the new one-million-square-foot fulfilment centre pick, pack and ship larger items for customers.
“We’ve known for a long time the positive impacts Amazon would bring to Leduc County, including both direct impacts through job creation and indirect impacts through boosting the local economy,” said Leduc County Mayor Tanni Doblanko.
“It’s exciting to hear that the fulfilment centre is up and running and employing more than 600 Albertans. It’s come at a time when many of us could use good news, and we are certainly proud to be a part of it.”
The company’s second delivery station in Edmonton is more than 100,000 square feet in size. Packages are transported to delivery stations from Amazon fulfilment centres, where they are sorted, then loaded into vehicles for delivery.
“Amazon has become an important employer in our region, creating hundreds of jobs in their two facilities following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Brad Rutherford, MLA for Leduc-Beaumont.
To celebrate the openings, Amazon made donations to the Stollery Children’s Hospital and Edmonton’s Food Bank.
Amazon said all its facilities are following health and safety protocols during the pandemic, including physical distancing guidelines.
“Across operations, Amazon has invested more than $800 million in the first half of this year on safety measures like temperature checks, masks, enhanced cleaning, gloves, sanitation stations and onsite testing, to name a few,” the company said in a news release Wednesday.