Amazon notified state officials on Monday that it is closing its sortation center in Shakopee at the end of March, impacting about 680 workers.
"All employees at our facility in Shakopee are being offered opportunities to transfer to other facilities in and around the Twin Cities, or support if they choose not to stay with Amazon," Steve Kelly, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement.
The online retailer has two warehouses in Shakopee — a much larger fulfillment center, which does not appear to be affected by the impending closure, and the smaller sorting center where packages are grouped together by ZIP code for faster deliveries.
The company told the Star Tribune its lease is expiring at the sortation center and that it is working to accommodate employees' scheduling preferences as they look to move workers to other sites. Those who do not take other positions within the company will be laid off.
As Amazon's sales growth has slowed coming out of the pandemic, the tech giant has been closing some of its smaller warehouses and has canceled plans for others, after opening them at a breakneck speed in previous years.
"We're always evaluating our network to make sure it fits our business needs and to improve the experience for our employees, customers, partners and drivers," Kelly said. "As part of that effort, we may close older sites, enhance existing facilities, or open new sites, and we weigh a variety of factors when deciding where to develop future sites or maintain a presence."
Around the Twin Cities, Amazon had been on a building boom in recent years. In 2021, it opened a 750,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Lakeville, followed by a 525,000-square-foot sortation center in Woodbury last year. It also has other warehouses in Maple Grove, Eagan, Brooklyn Park and St. Cloud.
In a letter sent to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Sandy Gordon, an Amazon vice president of human resources, wrote that the company will cease operations at its facility at 5825 11th Ave. E. in Shakopee by March 31, the same date as when employee layoffs are expected to be effective.
The sorting center in Shakopee, which was 150,000 square feet when it opened in October 2015, was one of the first facilities Amazon opened in Minnesota. It was followed soon after by the nearly 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Shakopee, where items are picked and packaged into boxes.
It's at the larger fulfillment center in Shakopee where some workers have recently begun mobilizing to form a union. There have been protests and walkouts over the years at that site over worker treatment.
Amazon is one of several Big Tech companies that have announced major layoffs in recent months after going on a hiring spree during the pandemic. Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy said earlier this month that its layoffs will affect more 18,000 employees.
