Amazon brings warehouses to London, eyes Ford Talbotville site

Ecommerce giant Amazon is opening two warehouses in London and reports indicate it is in talks to bring a massive fulfillment centre to the former automotive assembly site

AMAZON.COM INC. SAID on Wednesday it will soon open two new leased warehouses in London, employing about 100 workers at each warehouse ― one at Huron Street and Robins Hill Road and a second at 580 Industrial Road. Both facilities will be operational within a few months. 

Story Continues Below

 

In addition, according to a report in the London Free Press, Amazon is also looking at bringing a fulfillment centre to the former Ford assembly plant site in Talbotville.

Fulfillment centres are huge warehouses that help Amazon and other online retailers store products, ship them and handle returns quickly. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant is on an expansion spree on the back of a meteoric rise in its business, thanks to a surge in online orders during coronavirus-induced lockdowns.

The Township of Southwold officials have confirmed talks are underway between builders for Amazon and the municipality. Toronto-based Broccolini Construction in Toronto has built several Amazon warehouse, sorting and distribution centres in Quebec and Ontario.

Story Continues Below

 

According to the Free Press story, Amazon Canada spokesperson Vanessa Pontes wrote in an email: “Amazon is a dynamic business and we are constantly exploring new locations and weighing a variety of factors when deciding where to develop future sites to best serve customers; however, we have a policy of not commenting on our future roadmap and are not yet commenting on any specific operations plans in Talbotville. Stay tuned.”

Amazon currently operation 10 distribution facilities in Ontario and 16 across Canada, with a number of new development applications having been filed by the company, most of them just outside major population centres.

The Ford site ― 254 hectares of land on Highway 4 south of Highway 401 ― closed in 2011 after 44 years of operation.