In late 2021, Amazon opened its first fulfillment center in Louisiana — a $100 million, 1.1 million-square-foot facility at the former Evangeline Downs racetrack in Carencro.
In less than five years since, the online retail behemoth has built out several more massive hubs while also increasing its number of smaller delivery stations across the state, helping fill long-vacant properties, in some cases, and spurring new industrial construction in others.
Today, Amazon operates 13 locations in Louisiana and employs more than 10,000 Louisiana workers, according to economic development officials, up from 1,500 in 2020.
As Americans become increasingly accustomed to online shopping and ever-speedier delivery times, Amazon — which defined the category and now accounts for nearly 10% of all retail spending in the U.S. — is continuing to grow its footprint and reshape the industrial real estate sector, much as it reshaped the way people shop…