Aug/Sept 2005

Amazon.co.uk is to open a new fulfilment centre at Glenrothes, Fife in Scotland to help cope with deliveries of some of the newer products it offers - for instance, electronics and photographic equipment, home and garden products and toys and games.

Although smaller than the 300,000 sq ft base Amazon announced last year on the opposite coast, at Gourock on the Clyde, the new facility will nevertheless occupy a substantial 200,000 sq ft and employ 50 full-time staff, with an increase of around 250 at the Christmas peak.

The existing Gourock site originally handled the products now moving to Glenrothes, and when the new site is fully operational Gourock is due to switch to more traditional Amazon items such as books, CDs and DVDs.

Both sites support Amazon's main 540,000 sq ft distribution facility at Marston Gate, Milton Keynes.

Amazon has been offered up to £250,000 of Regional Selective Assistance in setting up the new facility, along with £50,000 from Scottish Enterprise Fife. Enterprise minister Nicol Stephen has described the deal as 'a ringing endorsement of what Scotland can offer companies across the world'.