Five Below Inc., the store where everything is $5 or less, is looking to build a distribution center in the Pleasant View area.
The County Council approved a tax abatement for the company at its Tuesday evening meeting.
A representative from Five Below gave a presentation on the company. Five Below is a publicly traded company formed in 2002 in Pennsylvania. In 2020, the company had over 1,000 stores in 38 states.
The store’s target market is teenagers. Everything in the store is less than $5, but they do have higher-end items that are under $10. The items in the store are “sports-focused, tech-focused, party and seasonal-focused, dormitory and teenager room focused,” the representative said.
If built, the Shelby County distribution center will be the company’s sixth.
“It would be a distribution center but also their e-commerce center,” the rep continued. “During the pandemic, they’ve seen their e-commerce sales rise exponentially, and they really need one location to service that demand.”
The building would be over 1 million square feet, and built in two phases. The first phase is a $105 million investment – $65 million for land and building, and another $40 million or equipment.
This will create 470 full-time jobs with base wages of $17.73, the rep said.
Five Below also supports national charities that impact young people, like Toys for Tots, St. Jude’s Hospital and Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
The representative said the company plans to finalize the agreement with the developer in April, and will break ground as soon as possible.
“This is a big project,” Council president Tony Titus said. “People out here locally are working awfully hard to make this project come together in a short amount of time.”
One councilman expressed concern about how previous tax abatements have gotten “bad rap” because they can negatively impact local schools.
Triton Central Schools Superintendent Chris Hoke responded, saying an abatement wouldn’t impact the schools ability to do what it does, and he thought it was a great investment.
Moral Township Fire Volunteer Department Chief Aaron Lathrop said they have zero capability to handle a facility this big because they only have 12 firefighters.
“We’re going to make changes, but no new tax dollars it sounds like would be available,” he said. “Maybe some money could be set aside for the Fire Department, but right now – a million and a half square foot facility, with a ladder truck, a lot of these things we’re not going to be able to access.”
Titus said other fire departments that saw facilities like the proposed distribution center have “worked things out” and the council would address it as the project moves forward.
The abatement was approved unanimously.
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