AKRON, Ohio - Amazon is expanding its footprint in Ohio and across the region with the addition of two new fulfillment centers in Akron and in Rossford, Ohio, which is just outside of Toledo. 

The company between the two facilities will create more than 2,500 jobs. 

The company announced on Monday that 1,500 jobs would be coming to its future site in Akron which will be located on the property that used to be the home of the former Rolling Acres Mall. The future Akron location off of I-77 is about a 55-minute drive from downtown Youngstown.

The city of Akron owned the property off of Romig Road and had the complex demolished in 2016 to make way for a new potential tenant and buyer.

The majority of the jobs created will be fulfillment center associates that can earn a wage of $15 an hour. Amazon also offers its full-time employees medical healthcare with vision, and dental insurance, maternal or paternal paid leave for up to 20 weeks, a 401K with an automatic 50-percent match and possible tuition reimbursement.

The fulfillment centers in Akron and Rossford locations will join other Amazon fulfillment centers in Etna Township and Groveport outside of Columbus, Ohio, and a location in Pittsburgh. 

An Etna Township trustee says the company is a good neighbor funneling $800,000 to the township and a similar amount to the local school district in that community each year.

"It's been great for the community, it's been great for the county financially," said John Carlisle, township trustee president in Etna Township. 
"It has allowed the township to do things that we've not been able to do financially and the schools." Carlisle says the unemployment rate in Licking County is at an all-time low. He credits Amazon for the majority of that improvement.

The township was prepared for the new business to move in. Carlisle says they widened a road on State Route 312 from two lanes to five lanes for the possibility of more truck traffic. 

Amazon's presence may have also played a role in attracting another business to move in. He says Kohl's is preparing to open a distribution center in the township next.

21 News visited the Etna site in 2017, where workers there told us then that the jobs keep them busy on their feet.

Not all of the jobs have been posted on the company's website for the Akron fulfillment center, but you'll soon be able to find them at Amazon-dot-jobs.