ARCHBALD, Pa. -- An online pet products company is bringing hundreds of new jobs to Lackawanna County.
The future site of a new fulfillment center for Chewy is in the Valley View Business Park in the borough of Archbald.
Chewy plans to bring in about 1,000 new full-time employees, according to an announcement made Monday morning by the governor's office.
We spoke with Bob Durkin, the president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, which played a big role in bringing Chewy to Lackawanna County.
"It continues to show that northeastern Pennsylvania, and Lackawanna County specifically, is a place where the major national players -- developers and businesses -- want to come and do business. It's the right place for them," Durkin said. "We have some 4,000+ people unemployed in Lackawanna County, over 9,000 in the overall region, and so this will be a great opportunity to help provide a Christmas gift at some point for a lot of individuals."
This will be Chewy's third fulfillment center in the state. The company operates a facility in Hanover Township in Luzerne County and one near Harrisburg.
Chewy says it will invest $35 million into the facility.
The new location in Archbald will be used to fill online orders. It'll span more than 700,000 square feet inside the Valley View Business Park in Archbald.
It's smaller than the facility in Hanover Township, but also more automated.
"They're going to be bringing a first-class operation here. They're going to be bringing technology of the future here, so it's not a false expectation in terms of jobs. It's a real number of jobs in an advanced automated environment," Durkin said.
Jessup Pizzeria, just a couple miles away from the future facility, wants to keep business booming, and they're hoping that 1,000 more workers in the area will do just that.
"That means a lot, hopefully, means we get more business here. As you can see, we're pretty packed right now, but after the holidays, hopefully, these guys will come in," A.J. Vangarelli said.
The owner of Cousin's Convenience Mart in Jessup agrees.
"It's going to help the small businesses, and most of Jessup is small business. The borough of Archbald is small business. And just an influx of employees they need gas, they need their cigarettes, their chew, their lottery," Lorraine Goodfield said.
Construction on the facility began back in August and is expected to wrap up in June.
New jobs will be posted on Chewy's website and social media pages.