When the pandemic gripped New York City, it propelled a huge wave of online shopping that hasn’t abated, even in a metropolis where stores are rarely far away. People who used to shop online regularly are now buying more, while those who started ordering to avoid exposure to the virus have been won over by the benefits.
The abrupt shift in buying habits has made New York City a high-stakes proving ground for urban deliveries, with its density both a draw and a logistical nightmare.
He also highlighted the need for an unglamorous but essential piece of e-commerce infrastructure: warehouse space to store and sort packages and meet customer expectations for faster and faster delivery.
Amazon spent the pandemic embarking on a shopping spree in New York City, dramatically expanding its footprint in the nation’s largest and most lucrative market.
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It has seized at least nine new warehouses in the city, including a giant over a million square feet rising in Queens which will be its largest in New York, and today has at least 12 warehouses in the five districts. And he added to his list more than two dozen warehouses in the suburbs surrounding the city.
No other major competitor has a single warehouse in the city, and Amazon has largely left behind most of its major competitors, like Wal-Mart and Target.
“Amazon had people doing business,” said Adam Gordon, whose real estate company Wildflower has several warehouses in the city. “And they were upgraded.”
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While New York’s narrow streets, chronic traffic jams, and the abrupt lack of parking are all daunting challenges, the city also suffers from a severe shortage of warehouses when they are most needed to properly grease a system. efficient delivery.
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New York has about 128 million square feet of industrial space, far less than many small cities. Indianapolis, which has only a tenth of New York’s population, has nearly double the space. Chicago is the nation’s leader with over 1.2 billion square feet.
Many packages arrive in New York from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where it is possible to build larger and cheaper warehouses. And over the past year, Amazon has added 14 new warehouses in New Jersey and Long Island, totaling over 7 million square feet.
But having warehouses in town is more profitable and can cut about 20 percent excluding delivery charges compared to deliveries originating in New Jersey.
“We are delighted to continue to invest in New York State by adding new delivery stations,” said Deborah Bass, an Amazon spokesperson, adding that the company’s goal was to “do part of the fabric of New York by embracing the people. , the needs and the spirit of the community.
Amazon’s rapid expansion in New York City has also drawn closer scrutiny in the treatment of its workers, an issue the company has faced in other parts of the country. Amazon has sought to quash efforts by warehouse workers to form unions – including on Staten Island – and a high-profile battle is now being waged in Alabama.
In New York, the attorney general sued Amazon over conditions at two of its local warehouses, accusing the company of failing to properly clean its buildings and conducting adequate contact tracing, as well as taking “action. rapid retaliation ”to silence employee complaints. .
An Amazon spokeswoman disputed the allegations and said the company cares “deeply for the health and safety” of its workers.
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Amazon’s growth in New York comes two years after dropping plans to build a sparkling new headquarters in Queens. A chorus of lawmakers and progressive activists had opposed giving one of the richest companies in the world billions of dollars in government incentives that the retail giant won by making cities compete .
But New York remains an attractive price, and Amazon’s warehouse chain in the city puts it in a strong position to profit from the huge surge in online shopping caused by the pandemic.
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