Urban Outfitters to build e-commerce center in Kansas City

Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters is expanding its e-commerce infrastructure with a planned 880,000 square-foot omnichannel distribution center (DC) in the Kansas City area, local business leaders said today.

The $350 million DC will be located on ancillary land at the Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County, Kan., and is expected to create up to 2,000 local jobs. Construction is set to begin this fall, officials said.

“This facility will be at the heart of our distribution network, enabling us to support continued digital growth at all our brands and reach our digital customers faster and more efficiently than ever before,” Dave Ziel, chief development officer for Urban Outfitters, said in a statement Thursday. 

Ziel also pointed to the region and its workforce as prime reasons the Philadelphia-based company chose Kansas City for the new DC. Distribution projects are up 25% and manufacturing projects are up 21% in the Kansas City area since 2019, according to the Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC). KC SmartPort, a nonprofit economic development organization focused on recruiting freight-based companies to the area, said it has helped bring more than $1.1 billion in capital investment and more than 8.8 million square feet of industrial space to the region in the past three years. 

The trend has been accelerating since the Covid-19 pandemic hit this spring, officials also said.

“Since the outbreak of the virus, several prominent employers have chosen Kansas City for their next facility, including Dot’s Pretzels, Tuthill Corporation, and Chewy, Inc., among others,” local business leaders also said Thursday. 

The Urban Outfitters DC is expected to be up and running in 2022.