E-commerce Firms See Explosive Growth

CHICAGO—Swap.com, a fast-growing online retailer, has just signed a 361,000 square foot lease at 850 Veteran’s Parkway in suburban Bolingbrook, marking its second major expansion since its founding in 2013. At its previous location, Swap.com, which offers a selection of pre-owned baby, kid’s, maternity and women’s apparel and accessories, occupied just 66,000 square feet.

“It’s indicative of what we’re seeing with e-commerce firms,” Jason West, an industrial specialist based in Cushman & Wakefield’s Rosemont office, tells GlobeSt.com. Swap.com began as an operation with 15 employees but now has a staff of 100 handling an inventory of more than 340,000 items. “This lease represents positive net absorption of approximately 300,000 square feet within the I-55 industrial submarket and will push down the vacancy rate by nearly 40 bps.”