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With a deal this week to open two more distribution centers in Ontario, Amazon will hire an additional 2500 employees. One of the new warehouses will be in Hamilton and be over 79,000 square-meters. 1500 of the newly hired employees will be for this center alone, and it will specialize in fulfilling orders for smaller packages such as toys, consumer electronics, and children’s items.

Another distribution center, being constructed in Ajax with over 92,000 square-meters of space, will need over 1000 new employees to help pick and pack for Canadian order fulfillment. The difference here is that this center will be geared towards fulfillment for larger items, such as furniture and fitness equipment, hence the larger space, but fewer employees.

“We’re thrilled to continue expanding our operations in Ontario with our newest fulfillment centres in Hamilton and Ajax,” said Sumegha Kumar, Director, Canadian Customer Fulfillment Operations, Amazon Canada.

The facilities are expected to be fully operational before the end of 2021, though it might be tough to find enough new staff. Several Canadian fulfillment operators have recently expanded, and demand for warehouse employees has never been stronger.

“My riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook has seen unprecedented investment in the past couple of years.” Said Donna Skelly, MPP for Flamborough—Glanbrook

Canadian fulfillment has been booming in recent years with the rise of direct-to-consumer ecommerce and warehouse and distribution facilities are popping up in multiple provinces. With warehouses to take in bulk shipments of imports, and then ship items for individual customer fulfillment, online sales have lower cost structures than traditional retail stores and are becoming more popular every day.