An Amazon fulfillment center in San Marcos, Tex., visible through the window of a nearby hotel. Credit: Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times
The New York Times quotes Beth Gutelius, a senior research specialist at UIC’s Great Cities Institute, in a story on Amazon’s expansion and the company’s mixed success with building community relationships.
As Amazon expands, including closer to more major cities like New York and Chicago, it is facing more local demands.
“People think that Amazon is a 100 percent sleek machine,” said Beth Gutelius, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago with a focus on warehouses. In reality, a lot falls through the cracks. “Even if they are trying to be strategic locally, they can’t actually do it because they are so big and sprawling.”
