Amazon plans fifth fulfillment center in the Inland Empire

As Amazon Inc. moves to shrink delivery times from days to hours, it's spreading its enormous inventory across a growing network of fulfillment centers on the outskirts of the nation's biggest cities. Within this strategy, San Bernardino has emerged as a key player thanks to its abundance of affordable land, proximity to ports and access to one of the nation's biggest consumer markets. Amazon this week doubled down on the city 60 miles east of Los Angeles by announcing plans for its second fulfillment center there, a cavernous 1.1-million-square-foot facility that will briefly warehouse items such as books, electronics and toys while adding 1,000 new full-time jobs. "San Bernardino has proven to be an important part of Amazon's growth in California, and we are proud to continue creating jobs and helping support the economy here in the Inland Empire," Akash Chauhan, Amazon's vice president of North American operations, said in a prepared statement. The new facility will be Amazon's fifth fulfillment center in the Inland Empire and seventh in California.