Walmart opens fulfillment center in Joliet

JOLIET - Leaders and employees from Walmart joined government officials Wednesday to celebrate the grand opening of Walmart's 1.1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Joliet.

This is the first of four Walmart fulfillment centers being built to store millions of items available on Walmart.com that are then picked, packed and shipped directly to customers.

The state-of-the-art facility will also fulfill Marketplace items shipped by Walmart Fulfillment Services, Walmart's end-to-end fulfillment service for third-party eCommerce sellers.

"As the first-of-its-kind for Walmart, our newly opened facility introduces an array of opportunities to our associates, including brand new tech-focused jobs," said James Bright III, general manager of the fulfillment center. "I look forward to seeing the positive impact this team of associates and the Joliet facility will have on not only the Northeast Illinois community and economy, but also for Walmart customers across the Midwest."

The facility is still actively hiring with a goal to hire more than 1,000 local full-time associates by the end of the year.

Once completed, the four new fulfillment centers for Walmart could provide 75% of the U.S. population with next- or two-day shipping, the company said.