Exclusive: LuLaRoe hopes to hire 1,000 in Blythewood by the end of summer

Mark Stidham, chief executive of West Coast clothing firm LuLaRoe, says the company hopes to hire all 1,000 employees for its new 104-acre, 470,000-square-foot East Coast distribution center in Blythewood by the end of summer.

“Hiring is actively underway,” Stidham said by email. “We use a highly automated distribution system that requires extensive testing at the outset. We are quickly ramping up the first shift, which will include an estimated 500 positions, to support our tentative opening in June.

“Once testing is completed, we expect to ramp up a second shift of approximately 500 positions,” he said. “Our goal is to fill as many as 1,000 positions by the end of this summer.”

Company officials on Friday said the firm would not disclose its wages, adding: “We offer competitive salary and benefits for positions at various levels.”

These are the average and starting wages for distribution jobs in the Columbia area, according to the Central South Carolina business survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

▪  The average starting wage across all production jobs is $17.43.

▪  The average for all transportation and material moving jobs is $15.55.

▪  A material handler’s average starting wage is $13.46.

▪  Packagers and hand-packing jobs average starting wage is $10.35.

The company said it needed to open its new East Coast distribution center in Blythewood because of growing demand.

LuLaRoe’s sales for past 12 months has skyrocketed to $1.8 billion, Stidham said. It was co-founded by Stidham and his wife, DeAnne, in May 2012.

LuLaRoe was named after the couple’s three first grandchildren, Lucy, Lola and Monroe.

The company’s growth is caused in large part by its multilevel sales approach, engaging independent individual retailers who sell mainly through social media and parties. It sells minimum levels of $5,000 in stock to these associates, mainly millennial women who then engage their friends and acquaintances and form teams of other independents under them.

The company purchased the former Bose plant in a lighting fast deal in April for $16 million. LuLaRoe is investing another $19 million retooling the facility. Sales of large industrial facilities usually take six months to years, according to local commercial real estate brokers.

LuLaRoe went from due diligence to closing in six weeks. They asked for no local or state incentives.

“We are moving quickly to set up our Columbia facility because our fast-growing business and Independent Fashion Retailers demand it,” Stidham said. “As a privately held business, we are able to make quick decisions. We had also earmarked funding for the facility prior to the search, which helped reduce the time necessary to close on the facility.”

He said the company chose Columbia because of its central location on the East Coast.

“As we conducted a search for our first East Coast distribution hub, the Columbia area checked all the important boxes,” he said. “We conducted a study that found that shipping from the Columbia area provided the shortest shipping time to the majority of Independent Fashion Retailers, which was our top priority.

“We also found a fantastic existing building located in Blythewood in the Columbia area that we felt could be easily equipped to meet our needs,” he said.

This story was originally published May 5, 2017 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Exclusive: LuLaRoe hopes to hire 1,000 in Blythewood by the end of summer."