A billion-dollar company that bills itself as one of the “world’s largest e-commerce retailers of home furnishings and decor” plans to bring nearly 1,000 full-time jobs to Maine.
Boston-based Wayfair says about 450 jobs will be based in Bangor at a building currently occupied by L.L. Bean. Another 500 jobs will be based at Brunswick Landing, where redevelopment of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station is underway.
In a company press release, Wayfair says the new Bangor and Brunswick locations will help customer service and sales operations keep pace with a rapidly growing customer base. The company, which was formerly known as CSN Stores, offers products ranging from cookware and home and office furniture to lighting and other decor.
Liz Graham, vice president of sales and service, says there were a couple of factors that made Maine attractive for the company’s expansion.
“In thinking about a community like Bangor, there’s a great local talent pool and certainly a long experience in customer service,” she says. “That was something that was attractive to us.”
Also attractive, says Graham, was the local business climate, the help offered by the city and finally the proximity of both Bangor and Brunswick to its Boston headquarters.
She says jobs in customer service and inside sales will include entry-level as well as management positions and will include extensive in-house training.
“Certainly it adds to the employment base of the former Naval facility,” says Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority.
Levesque says the former base already has about 850 jobs provided by several dozen employers. Wayfair’s addition of another 500 will boost Brunswick Landing’s visibility, he says.
“It’s great that a company of this stature would choose to make these kinds of investments in the state of Maine,” Levesque says. “Good news for the whole state, indeed.”
The company says it expects to begin operations in Brunswick in June and sometime later in Bangor.
