Chief Executive Officer North America

Amazon will build its first Quebec fulfillment center next year, creating 300 jobs.

Two months after announcing plans for its sixth fulfillment center in Ontario, Amazon said it plans to build its first such center in Quebec in the Lachine borough of Montreal.

Fulfillment centers are the name the online retail giant gives to its warehouses. Amazon currently boasts more than 175 such locations around the world, with a workforce totaling some 250,000 people.

Meanwhile, Canada’s own Shopify Inc., a fierce rival of Amazon, has also been strengthening its delivery network and has earmarked $1 billion for its own warehouses. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, Shopify powers over one million businesses in more than 175 countries.

Amazon says its Montreal Fulfillment Center will open late 2020 and create more than 300 full-time jobs.

The company insists that the center, which will be its 12th in the country, will allow it to better serve customers across Quebec.

The build-out of fulfilment centers, which provide both warehouse and shipping services, comes as Amazon pushes to make faster online order deliveries. The company currently offers same-day delivery in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary.

Seattle-based Amazon currently employs more than 2,000 full-time workers at its existing Ontario facilities in Brampton, Mississauga, and Milton. In total, the company has more than 6,000 employees in Canada.

The Montreal site is expected to be operational in time for the 2020 holiday season.