Amazon opens first Distribution Center in Tyler

TYLER – Amazon has opened its first fulfillment center in East Texas, just in time for the upcoming busy holiday delivery season. The building sits on 30-acres of land and has a 140,000-square feet floor plan. President of the Tyler Economic Development Scott Martinez has been with this project since it was just a daydream.

“Seeing this project come to life and in a timeframe that was just so quick, this whole construction was less than 12 months,” Martinez said. “It’s almost like seeing a child born and start growing. So it’s been very fulfilling.”

According to our news partner KETK, Monday’s ribbon cutting on the new Tyler facility was attended by several local officials including Tyler mayor Don Warren, State Rep. Cole Hefner and State Senator Bryan Hughes.

For better traffic flow, the company also paid for a new traffic signal and turn lanes nearby. The facility is in its third week of operation, with employees fulfilling shipments overnight and loading trucks early morning.

Jessica Breaux, a Senior Manager with Amazon broke down the facility’s day to day operations for KETK News.

“At this facility we primarily are doing direct to customer deliveries. So, we have packages of customer orders that come into the building and our team works really hard to sort those items,” Breaux said. “Then they load those, and hopefully you’re already seeing some Amazon branded trucks around town.”

It’s not just about the deliveries, the facility is expected to have a strong economic impact by providing more than 100 jobs for East Texans.

“We’re super excited to bring these new job opportunities to Tyler,” Breaux said. “It’ll be upwards of 100 employees inside the building and then additional job creation happening outside with drivers. We worked really close with the city, and the county all to make this happen.”

This new facility is located near Interstate 20 and County Road 334.