Fanatics LLC, the sports merchandising giant founded in the Jacksonville area, filed a notice Jan. 11 with city and state officials saying it is closing its fulfillment center at 5245 Commonwealth Ave., affecting 218 employees.
“Fanatics continues to maintain a strong presence in Jacksonville, employing more than 1,500 employees at its corporate offices. In addition, we continue to operate the in-venue retail business for the Jacksonville Jaguars,” the company said in a letter filed under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
Fanatics said in the WARN letter sent to Mayor Donna Deegan, City Council President Ronald Salem and the State Trade and Rapid Response Program that the layoffs will begin April 1.
Terminations will continue until the fulfillment center is closed, scheduled for Aug. 1.
Fanatics has corporate offices at 8100 Nations Way, which is listed on its website as its commerce headquarters.
The company opened a corporate headquarters office in New York last year.
A Fanatics spokesman said by email that the company is seeking to ensure its facilities are best equipped to ship its products efficiently and effectively.
“In looking at our current real estate portfolio, our Commonwealth Facility in Jacksonville, Florida, is one of the oldest buildings we operate within,” he said.
“This has resulted in continued challenges as we try to keep it up to date to service the needs of our fans as well as meet new demands. To better service our fans within the Southeastern United States, we will be shifting our fulfilment efforts to newer buildings in and around the region where we have access to updated technology and infrastructure to ensure a better fan experience.“
Fanatics was founded with a single store in the Orange Park Mall in 1995.
It began growing an online sports merchandising business and founders Mitchell and Alan Trager sold the Jacksonville-based business in 2011 to a Philadelphia company run by current Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin.
Rubin has expanded the company into a major sports commerce organization with additional operations including sports gambling and trading cards.
The company’s value has been estimated at more than $30 billion by business news organizations as Wall Street anticipates an initial public offering for Fanatics this year.
This story has been updated with comments from Fanatics.