AutoZone to hire 400

New jobs Vehicle parts and accessories retailer opening distribution center in May

HAZLE TWP. – Up to 400 workers will be hired for a new AutoZone distribution center here.

Officials Friday announced the automobile and light truck parts and accessories retailer will open a 600,000-square-foot center in the Humboldt Industrial Park in May. Up to 250 people will be hired by then and another 150 by the time the center is fully operational.

The announcement ends the secrecy that began more than two years ago when Luzerne County commissioners approved a five-year tax break for a $30 million project promising to create 400 jobs. Since then a variety of public and private entities cooperated to see “Project Pioneer” through.

Kevin O’Donnell, president of CAN DO, the economic development organization that owns the industrial park, said the state, county, township and Hazleton Area School District stepped up with incentives.

Key in the negotiations with the company was the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance benefit worked out between the county, school district and township, O’Donnell said in a press release. The program provides tax abatements for up to 10 years for property improvements.

Other communities “were offering tax-free land” through the Keystone Opportunity Zone program, O’Donnell said.

The state alone provided up to $4.05 million in grants and credits to AutoZone, added Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

The state package includes a $1 million opportunity grant that Ortiz said can be used for any cost associated with the project. A grant worth up to $1.25 million is available for infrastructure improvements at the site. In addition, job creation tax credits total $1.6 million and there is another $200,000 in job training funds.

The incentives are predicated on the construction of the distribution center and the creation of at least 400 jobs within five years, Ortiz said.

Construction began in June 2007, and last November The Walker Companies, the Atlanta-based consultant for the project, began advertising management positions for a state-of-the-art distribution center in the park.

AutoZone was a client of The Walker Companies, but John Warden, executive vice president with Walker, declined to identify who it was working with at the time.

In the CAN DO press release, Walker stated his company considered dozens of sites in Pennsylvania and the two competing states before selecting the Humboldt site.

To start off, AutoZone is hiring for a variety of full-time jobs, such as grounds maintenance and housekeeping, tractor-trailer drivers and mechanics, warehouse workers, shift supervisors and transportation dispatcher.

AutoZone, based in Memphis, Tenn., operates seven other distribution centers throughout the country. The nearest one is in Zanesville, Ohio. The company, which is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AZO, has 4,000 stores in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In addition, it has 128 stores in Mexico.

Bill Graves, a senior vice president with AutoZone, said increasing the business requires an accompanying enhancement of supply chain capabilities.

In the CAN DO press release, Graves said, “AutoZone’s new facility in Hazle Township will bring even more efficiency to the process of delivering the right part at the right price to our retail and commercial customers.”

How to apply:

To apply online, visit www.autozoneinc.com/careers/index.html and click on distribution center jobs. To apply in person, visit the CareerLink office, 75 N. Laurel St., Hazleton.

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