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USA Fullfillment in Cheswold is now the centralized location for the company, as it will close its longstanding Maryland office in June. | DBT PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING[/caption]
CHESWOLD — USA Fulfillment will close its Maryland headquarters and fully move operations to the Delaware facility that it opened roughly two years ago after laying off a large portion of its workforce.
First reported by the Kent County (Md.) News, the logistics company would close its distribution warehouse and office in Chestertown, Md., as of June 30. USA Fulfillment would also lay off 84 staff members at that site, as well as an undisclosed number at the Cheswold warehouse.
There would be around 30 employees at the USA Fulfillment warehouse in Cheswold, including five to 10 staff members transitioned from Chestertown after the layoffs, USA Fulfillment Vice President Jay Stamerro said.
In Delaware, USA Fulfillment employed 120 people, meaning the company would lose roughly three-quarters of its workforce.
“We lost a major client that operated out of Chestertown, and they were about 50% of our business and the largest part of that warehouse,” Stamerro told the Delaware Business Times. “With the big COVID boom, and consumers were leaning to more e-commerce, the client opted to take things in-house.”
In early 2020, USA Fulfillment signed a five-year lease for 78,000 square feet at a former PPG Paints plant. By March, the logistics company had fully settled in and relocated most of its product from Chestertown. The facility is “pretty full” today and distributes books, sporting goods and other consumer goods, Stamerro said.
Opened in 1983, USA Fulfillment supports ecommerce companies as well as distribution for business-to-consumer and business-to-business clients. The company is 100% employee-owned and operated out of a warehouse in Chestertown., for years before expanding to a second location.
E-commerce had served USA Fulfillment well in the past year, as Stamerro shared with county officials in late 2021 that the company was looking for a larger building. The company is reportedly in talks to lease more space, between 5,000 to 6,000 square feet, at the Cheswold location for administration.
“We’re in discussions with our landlord, as there’s been some talk about building a second building, and we could use some of that space,” Stamerro said. “We may be looking at 125,000 square feet of space, total.”
Despite some shifts in the marketplace as well as continuing struggles in the supply chain, Stamerro said that USA Fulfillment was in a key industry that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted its importance. The greater Dover region may also be the best place for the next stage of the company’s business.
“I’m an optimist, and Dover is a bigger area and not as rural as Chestertown. There’s a much greater transportation network, with easy access to major highways,” he said. “We’re very happy with Delaware and how the state and Kent County officials have supported us all this time.”
