Egghead.com Looking for More Space in SW Washington, But Considering Portland

Taking advantage of lower operating costs for the business and the employee, Menlo Park, Calif., -based Egghead.com is looking in Vancouver for 50,000 sf of office space in which to expand its local operation.

But Portland isn’t out of the question, the company’s veep of operations Norm Hullinger tells GlobeSt. “We wish to be in Vancouver, but we are having some challenges in finding the space we need, and are willing to move into Portland if necessary,” Says Hullinger. “We’d like to have a lease signed within next 45 days.”

Jeff Sheahan, CEO of the online computer and electronics retailer, tells GlobeSt that the space will support the addition of 250 new employees over the next 12 months, largely to support an enhanced business-to-business sales effort. The jobs will primarily be what the company calls “outbound telesales positions” responsible for the company’s small and medium-sized business customers.

Late last week, Egghead announced it is relocating the company’s engineering, technical operations, accounts payable and inventory accounting departments to Vancouver from Menlo Park. The headquarters and marketing departments will remain in Silicon Valley, he said.

The move includes 44 jobs, or 20 percent of its California work force. They will move into to Egghead’s existing 50,000 sf of office space at 521 SE Chkalov Dr. The company also has 100,000 sf of industrial space in the Vancouver area, of which it is actively using 75,000, Sheahan said.

The company has bounced around a lot in the past five year. In 1995, Egghead.com moved its headquarters from Issaquah, Wash., to Spokane, Wash., although most of its 250 employees declined to follow. After closing its physical stores to focus on the Internet, the company moved to Vancouver. Last summer, the company’s headquarters moved to Menlo Park when it merged with Onsale Inc. in a $400 million stock deal.