LUBBOCK, TX — Online shopping been on the rise since the start of the pandemic, which is something that might get a little easier for folks in Lubbock with the addition of two Amazon facilities.

“There is just a lot of really good, solid growth right now because we have so many good companies expanding to our area, as well as looking to expand to our area,” said President and CEO of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance, John Osborne, who has been helping to make sure this project runs smoothly.

Amazon’s two new centers added 230 full time jobs and several hundred part-time jobs

“There were a lot of things we really had to jump through in order to make this project happen but we’ve been very excited about how many locals they are hiring, and we’re excited about the project and what it’s doing to the business park,” said Osborne.

Amazon is bringing a Sort Center and a Last Mile facility to the Hub City. A Last Mile facility is designed to help speed up delivery efforts — and Lubbock’s is already up and running.

Sort Centers help to sort customer orders by final destination to also speed up the delivery process, but Lubbock’s Sort Center has yet to be completed. Lubbock’s recent weather brought some construction challenges.

“The rain we’ve had, it’s been fantastic for our crops but makes it much harder to continue to get construction on the correct kind of pace,” said Osborne.

And Amazon is facing some of the same struggles as many other businesses as it looks to fill positions.

“A lot of companies right now are challenged with trying to get people interested in positions given how much federal unemployment money has been coming in to the system and going into peoples homes,” said Osborne.

But still, they are managing to find a way to give jobs to hundreds in the Hub City. And while this new center might not mean same-day delivery just yet, the hope is that even more jobs and faster shipping times are in the future.

“We believe that there are plans for additional facilities in West Texas and we are hopeful to be able to land some of those deals at some point in the future. And all of that will be geared towards getting product to your door as fast as possible,” said Osborne.

As of now, the Sort Center is still on track despite weather delays and is set to open in September.
For those looking to apply to a job at Amazon, more information is available here.