Amazon Ups Number Of Postponed, Canceled Warehouses To 49
Millions of square feet of industrial real estate are on the chopping block amid plans by Amazon to cancel or postpone the opening of 49 warehouses.
Nine of the properties were set to open in California, including five in the Bay Area, according to MWPVL International Inc. data reported by Commercial Observer. Amazon still plans to lease a more than 4M SF warehouse in Southern California’s Inland Empire.
This most recent decision comes on the heels of a July announcement that Amazon would postpone or delay 16 warehouses. Those facilities were scattered across the country, including four in Texas.
A recalibration between the share of purchases made online versus in-store is one reason behind the scale-back, MWPVL founder and President Marc Wulfraat told Bisnow in a previous interview.
Amazon was already in the midst of expanding its warehouse footprint prior to the pandemic, but a sharp shift in consumer behavior led the company to embark on a massive spending spree to meet demand. In 2021, the company had more than 530M SF of ground-level real estate worldwide, compared to 395M SF the year prior, according to MWPVL data.
But as online shopping began to slow and interest rates began to rise, the company realized it may have bit off more than it could chew. The e-commerce giant recently posted its slowest growth rate in 20 years, per Commercial Observer, proving that even Amazon is not immune to extreme swings in the economy.
“They’re really emphasizing the word ‘focus,’” Wulfraat told Bisnow. “Let’s focus on the areas of business where we are making money, and let’s make sure we haven’t put ourselves in a situation where we’re over capacity or overcapitalized.”
Despite a more conservative growth strategy, the company still has plans to add another 110M SF, according to Commercial Observer. Wulfraat said that while warehouse growth may be contracting, other parts of the business are on the rise, including the expansion of the company’s transportation network.
