Delaware losing 175 jobs to New Jersey

The teen and pre-teen retailer Five Below has announced it will move its regional distribution operations, and 175 jobs, out of New Castle's Twin Spans Business Park to a site in Oldmans Township, New Jersey.

The new facility in Salem County will open in summer 2015, and "will support the company's continued growth and expansion on the East Coast," according to a Five Below release. Company officials held a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday at the site in New Jersey.

The new facility will have a million square feet, more than twice as big as the existing 421,000 square-foot-facility in New Castle, although Five Below will not occupy it all immediately, the company announced.

All employees are expected to continue in their current positions as they move across the Delaware River to the new facility, and 100 more jobs are expected to be created there in the coming years, the company announced.

Five Below CEO Tom Vellios said in the release: "For us, a key component of this decision was to find a strategic location that would meet our growth needs but also allow us to maintain our workforce, who have been a key contributor of our success to date. With this new distribution center, we have achieved both of these objectives."

Five years ago, in the depths of the Great Recession, the company doubled its space at the business park. That's as the Delaware Council on Development Finance approved a $250,000 loan to the company, convertible to a grant if it hired 50 full-time employees there and kept them through Feb. 2011.

The council also approved a separate grant of $125,000 from the Delaware Strategic Fund for the project. According to the minutes of the meeting, a Five Below official had indicated the company's intention to stay in Delaware.

The Delaware facility allows for processing 50,000 boxes a day, with 59 loading docks for trucks.

Republican Sen. Greg Lavelle, who was on the council at the time, said the company has likely fulfilled its requirements under the incentive package, but "it's reflective of this one-step-forward, two-step-back economy that we have in Delaware." Lavelle said rents are low and there is plenty of vacant space for companies looking to expand.

An official with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority said there was no record of any state incentives provided to Five Below.

Delaware Economic Development Office officials could not be reached for comment.

Five Below is known for appealing to younger buyers with prices of $5 and less.

Contact Aaron Nathans at 324-2786 or anathans@delawareonline.com.