It appears Jacksonville has lost a corporate headquarters.
After a merger with a sister division, InMotion Entertainment Group LLC, which sells electronics and accessories in airports, moved its headquarters to Las Vegas.
Its previous space at 4801 Executive Park Court, Suite 100, in Center Point Business Park along Philips Highway north of Butler Boulevard, is for lease and the InMotion signage has been removed.
Landlord Plymouth Industrial REIT says 29,600 square feet of industrial and flexible space is available where inMotion vacated.
InMotion Entertainment Group LLC registered with the state in April that its headquarters address is in Las Vegas. Its previous annual filings showed Jacksonville as the base.
InMotionStores.com lists the headquarters as 3755 W. Sunset Road in Las Vegas.
The move stems from a buyout almost three years ago.
London-based WH Smith PLC completed a deal Nov. 30, 2018, to buy Jacksonville-based InMotion for $198 million, according to then InMotion President and CEO Jeremy Smith.
When the agreement was announced Oct. 30, 2018, Smith said InMotion would operate as a subsidiary, retaining its almost 800 employees systemwide and its 55 or so in Jacksonville.
AirportXNews.com reported in June 2020 that WH Smith merged its InMotion Entertainment and Marshall Retail Group divisions and said they will be headquartered at MRG’s Las Vegas offices.
It reported that InMotion is the leading portable electronics retailer in U.S. airports with more than 120 locations, while MRG has “award-winning and unique concepts in more than 190 retail stores in airports, hotels and tourist locations across the US and Canada.”
Marshall Retail Group says on MarshallRetailGroup.com that it is a retailer in the airport and casino-resort marketplace.
MRG says that for 65 years, it has provided clients with a collection of brands in more than 300 stand-alone stores, with more than half operating in 46 airports nationwide. Those numbers reflect the InMotion count.
MRG says that it and InMotion, which it calls the largest electronics-based retailer in the nation, are wholly owned subsidiaries of WH Smith, the leading global retailer in news, books and convenience for the world’s traveling customer.
“Now based in Las Vegas, their combined expertise and operational excellence puts them in a great position to collaborate on shared best practices,” said Marshall Retail Group in a statement June 23.
According to a 2015 Daily Record profile, two brothers and a cousin started InMotion in 1997 in Jacksonville and opened its first store in 1999 renting DVD players and movies to airline travelers as InMotion Pictures.
Gate Petroleum Co. invested in the company in 2000 and brought Smith, a senior Gate executive, onto the board.
The business evolved into an airport electronics retailer and Gate became majority owner in 2006, and Smith became president.
Private equity firms invested into the company in 2013 and incorporated InMotion Entertainment Group LLC.
MRG said Smith has retired.