By Deba Uwadiae
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted joined with Amazon, the largest Internet-based retailer in the United States, to announce Amazon’s plans to build a new one-million-square-foot fulfillment center in Canton.
The center will open in 2022 at 3550 Columbus Road NE in Canton and will create 1,000 new jobs, paying an average starting wage of $18 per hour and providing comprehensive health benefits, paid time off, up to 20 weeks fully paid parental leave, and more for employees and their families.
Amazon cited a talented workforce, welcoming community, and highly developed customer service logistics among its reasons for choosing Canton.
“Amazon has been a strong partner in Ohio, investing billions in cloud data centers, advanced distribution facilities, air service infrastructure, and more while creating over 41,000 jobs that provide healthcare and tuition assistance,” said Governor DeWine.
“We look forward to working with Amazon as it continues to demonstrate its confidence in Ohio’s value proposition, premier location, and outstanding talent.”
“Ohio has proven once again that we can compete and win when it comes to attracting major new projects,” said Lt. Governor Husted.
“Amazon will see that the people of the Canton area are hard-working, and when you give them an opportunity, they will do a great job.”
Amazon has invested just over $12 billion in Ohio from 2010 until 2020 while creating more than 41,000 jobs in the state.
In the Northeast Ohio region, Amazon has created more than 5,000 new jobs and has invested more than $3 billion since 2010, establishing multi-state fulfillment centers in North Randall, Euclid, and Akron.
“We’re excited to be expanding our network to better serve our customers in Northeast Ohio,” said Travis Dorion, regional director of operations at Amazon.
“We’re grateful for the continued support we’ve received from state and local leaders as we bring 1,000 good jobs to Canton and contribute to the community through sustainability initiatives and philanthropic partnerships.”
Local, regional, and state economic development partners – including the City of Canton, Stark Economic Development Board, Stark County Commissioners, Team NEO and JobsOhio – worked collaboratively with Amazon leadership to secure the highly competitive project by illustrating a compelling business case for locating in Canton. Amazon chose to invest in Canton without taking incentives from the organizations.
“Amazon understands the ‘Ohio Advantage’ and consistently invests in its fulfilment operations here because our unique combination of infrastructure, talent and strategic location, and that means more jobs here in our state,” said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and CEO.
“This new advanced facility is more evidence of Ohio’s ongoing momentum! Stark County is getting 1,000 new jobs and a company that has consistently invested in education and charitable causes where they have established distribution operations.”
“The Board of Stark County Commissioners is elated with the news of Amazon choosing Stark County,” said Bill Smith, president of Stark County Commissioners.
“We realize there are many great communities in our region that are competing for national companies to choose them. To have an excellent company like Amazon choose Stark County as one of its hubs is nothing short of exciting! We are confident Stark County will provide the resources, talent, and infrastructure needed to make Canton a great place to call home!”
Stark County boasts of colleges that include Kent State University, Maloe State College, University of Mount Union and Walsh University, with a population of 374,853 as of the 2020 census.
