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Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
Map of Zappos.com
Zappos.com
2280 Corporate Circle #100, Henderson
Sun Archives
- Zappos views Las Vegas City Hall as perfect fit for new headquarters (11-29-2010)
- Local, national Web retailers looking for Cyber Monday boost (11-29-2010)
- Henderson’s Zappos.com listed among best places to work (1-22-2010)
- From upstart to $1 billion behemoth, Zappos marks 10 years (6-16-2009)
- Henderson-based Zappos earns honors for ethics (4-13-2009)
- Zappos CEO appears on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ (3-9-2009)
- Henderson recognizes business achievements (2-4-2009)
- Workplace fun is the shoe that fits at Zappos (1-26-2009)
- Fortune list drops Station Casinos, adds Zappos.com (1-22-2009)
- Zappos.com laying off 8 percent of workers (11-6-2008)
Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen raised his hand to interrupt a speaker on a panel at the 2010 Mayors Prayer Breakfast; he just had to correct her.
She said online retailer Zappos.com was headquartered in Las Vegas. It’s not, Hafen said, grinning and laughing with pride. It’s in Henderson.
About two weeks after the Nov. 18 breakfast, Zappos announced it would be moving its offices from the heart of Green Valley to the Las Vegas City Hall building after city offices are moved to a new location.
Henderson city officials are taking the move in stride, saying it should not prove a significant economic blow for the city because the company is remaining in the valley.
“We want business in our city, but they needed to expand. We’re glad they found it (a new location) locally and not outside the state,” Henderson spokesman Bud Cranor said.
“The people who were here who stood to lose their jobs will be able to stay and continue to live here, pay taxes here, dine here,” Cranor said.
Henderson spokeswoman Kathy Blaha said she thought the move would have minimal financial impact on the city.
Zappos leased the space, she said, so the city will still collect property taxes on the building from American Nevada Company. The city will lose the company’s business license, she said, which brought in $1,000 a year.
“I’m not sure if there’s any kind of economic impact on us because Zappos is remaining in Southern Nevada,” Blaha said.
Taxes on sales will still come through the state, so Henderson will continue to get its portion of consolidated tax, she said.
The company, known for its zany work environment, located in Henderson in 2004. It has been listed as one of the best companies to work for by Fortune magazine.
Hafen was out of town Tuesday, but the city released a statement from the mayor.
“We’ve known for some time that Zappos has been looking at locations outside of Nevada to expand their operations,” Hafen said in the statement. “I’ve spoken at length with CEO Tony Hsieh and am excited that they’ve decided to remain here in Southern Nevada.”
The Henderson Chamber of Commerce had no comment on the move.
Because Zappos will be located on the Green Valley campus until mid -to late 2012, American Nevada Company officials said there haven’t been any preliminary discussions about future plans for the space Zappos occupies on Corporate Circle.
American Nevada Company is owned by The Greenspun Corporation, which owns the Las Vegas Sun.
“We have had a wonderful relationship with Tony Hsieh and Zappos.com,” said Bruce Deifik, president and CEO of American Nevada Company. “We certainly have loved having them on our campus and have enjoyed watching their company’s phenomenal growth and expansions over the years. We absolutely wish them the best and hope that our relationship with Tony and his team can continue in other ways in the future.”
I'm shocked and furious about Henderson's fairly cavalier attitude toward losing this major employer and shining star of the business world. What exactly did they do to try to keep Zappos in Henderson? Where is the realization about the effect this will have on all those restaurants and other businesses in the area where Zappos is currently located? I could go on and on, but it all comes down to this: A lot of those very well paid Henderson city officials should have been working their tails off trying to keep Zappos, in the same way that Las Vegas officials were doing backflips trying to win Zappos. What I get from this article that the Henderson officials were not. As a Henderson resident, that REALLY ticks me off. That makes me conclude that they either don't have a clue as to what they SHOULD be doing or they simply don't care. Heads should roll at the ballot box and at City Hall. What a disgusting example of dullard laziness and lack of business smarts. I hope the rest of you Henderson residents take note of this.
FedUpTaxpayer:
Stop getting so excited and wanting to toss your elected officials to the curb over this.
Zappo's needed more space and wanted their own building. At least they did not move of state and a 1000 more people get put on unemployment. Everyone still has their jobs.
Believe it or not, Elected officials can not be everything to everyone and there was not really much they could do for Zappo's. This is not going to cost Henderson anything, they lose $1000 a year for a business license. Nothing more.
I have several friends who work there or have worked there at one time in all departments from engineering to merchandising to the call center. Their culture fits better downtown better than it does on corporate circle. The fact that they are purchasing real estate and continuing to expand is great for the entire valley. When Amazon bought them, I thought they would slowly migrate operations up to Washington over the years, but thankfully I was wrong.
Vegaslee: I guess you're not a business owner in the GV area. This will have a significant impact on them. 1000 people a day coming and going to work has many economic benefits on every business within about 1/2 mile of the Zappos building. Not to mention the difficult task of getting a replacement business like this to the Henderson community. The mayor failed, and he says he's excited to keep them in the valley. Very short-sighted. Spoken like a man with no real business experience.
VegasLee:
I know Zappo's needed more space and wanted their own building.
My point is that Henderson officials should have found Zappos that space and building in Henderson. They should have made it happen one way or another.
What did Henderson officials do to try to make that happen? Anything?
Find ME a building because I continue to be ready to start tossing officials off the tallest one in town.
Also, VegasLee,
Henderson loses a lot more than $1,000. Most, if not all, of those employees eat lunch at restaurants near their workplace just about workday. Most, if not all, of those employees live in Henderson and shop near where they live. There are economic multipliers in play with all of this.
Why do you think Las Vegas downtown businesses are jumping for joy to have Zappos move down there? Not to mention the publicity and cache that comes with a worldwide media darling. Other companies were coming in to look at Zappos operation, and when they did, they wound up getting a look at Henderson.
And one more thing, VegasLee:
The story about the press conference says Zappos was looking to move somewhere else in the Vegas Valley, not out of state.