Illustration by Sarah Barton
This holiday season, thousands of Richmonders will fire up computers, tablets and phones to shop with their fingertips — a concept that’s largely due to Amazon, which virtually invented online shopping. For the past six years, the Richmond region has been an active part of Amazon’s extended network, and not just in cyberspace.
Richmond’s version of the Seattle-based Amazon empire took root in 2011 when Amazon announced that it would spend $135 million to open fulfillment centers in Chesterfield and Dinwiddie counties. Initial hiring created 1,000 jobs in Chesterfield and 350 in Dinwiddie. The fulfillment centers, along with other Amazon properties, have since boosted the number of full-time employees to 3,800, according to a 2016 Times-Dispatch survey.
“There is no way to overstate the impact of Amazon,” says Garrett Hart, director of economic development for Chesterfield County. Besides its full-time jobs, Amazon hires 1,600 seasonal workers through its fulfillment centers, Hart says. The company also has added to the county’s tax base with the construction of a building assessed at $50 million, and $100 million worth of equipment, which is considered business personal property. Amazon’s physical presence is substantial: Each of the two area fulfillment centers is bigger than 20 football fields — so large that Amazonians, as employees are called, use bicycles to travel the length of the facilities, an Amazon official told Dinwiddie leaders.
In September, Amazon also leased 328,000 square feet in the Northlake Business Park in Hanover County for a package-sorting complex that is expected to employ more than 300 people. In 2015, Amazon opened a distribution hub on Dabney Road in Henrico County, and the company occupies part of a warehouse near the Richmond Raceway Complex, where Amazon Flex drivers pick up packages for delivery. With its acquisition of Whole Foods, Amazon is also a force in the local grocery market.
Meanwhile, the company sparked a nationwide frenzy by announcing that it was looking for a second headquarters site that would employ 50,000 people. Gov. Terry McAuliffe has said that Amazon specifically asked for Richmond and Virginia Beach to put in bids, which were due Oct. 19. Angela Kelly-Wiecek, board chairwoman at the Greater Richmond Partnership, told the Times-Dispatch that the region has a strong proposal.
