By María Palma
The electronic and gaming retailer GameStop announced on Tuesday it will expand its North American fulfillment network with a 530,000-square-foot facility in Reno.
The leased facility is expected to be operational in 2022 and according to GameStop officials “will position it to grow product offerings and expedite shipping across the West Coast.”
This expansion follows GameStop’s recent lease of a 700,000 square foot facility in York, Pennsylvania.
The company didn’t indicate how many jobs the new facility would bring to the region, or what wages it might offer. Hiring notices for the Pennsylvania location indicate full time jobs offer paid time off, health benefits and a 401k.
In January, the Grapevine, Texas-based company made national and international headlines for soaring stock prices.
After being on the verge of bankruptcy due to competition from digital distribution services and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of small investors from the popular website Reddit–specifically from a subreddit called wallstreetbets which has 2.8 million users–organized to buy GameStop shares to inflate its market price and confuse Wall Street investors who anticipated a drop in its value.
It is not known exactly how many of these users bought GameStop stock, but the surge in demand for shares caused GameStop’s market value to increase from $2 billion to over $24 billion in a matter of days. Its shares rose more than 1,700% from December 2020 to January 2021, according to The New York Times.
The company has also undergone some internal changes. On June 9, GameStop announced Matt Furlong will be its new CEO once George Sherman officially steps down in July.
GameStop has six stores operating in the Reno-Sparks area.
