A San Francisco-based online retailer named Grove Collaborative plans to open a 9,000-square-foot customer service center in Portland that would employ up to 100 workers within its first year of operation.

The company, which sells all-natural home and personal care products on a subscription basis, said it plans to open the Portland facility at 123 Middle St. in November.

Grove co-founder and CEO Stuart Landesberg said Portland is the ideal location for the company’s East Coast “community happiness department” facility, where customer service representatives and personal shoppers known as “Grove guides” will offer a personalized buying experience to customers. The responsibilities of a Grove guide include customer service and sales functions, and it pays wages comparable to other jobs in those fields, Landesberg said.

“I love it,” he said about Portland. “I love the people, I love the culture, I love the spirit.”

Founded in 2016, Grove has more than 300 employees at its headquarters in California and warehouses in Missouri, Pennsylvania and Nevada. Grove is a fast-growing company that has raised over $100 million in venture capital funding.

Landesberg said Grove’s mission is to help consumers create “healthy and beautiful environments” by making all-natural products more accessible and easy to purchase. Each Grove customer is assigned a personal shopper who provides direct assistance in selecting products.

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Grove is one of roughly 1,700 Certified B Corporations in the U.S. B Corporations are for-profit companies that are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on workers, customers, suppliers, community and the environment. Other B Corporations include Patagonia, Seventh Generation, Etsy and Ben & Jerry’s.

“We are excited to have Grove Collaborative select Maine as its flagship East Coast location,” said Peter DelGreco, president and CEO of Portland-based business development group Maine & Co. “The company’s success in attracting multiple rounds of venture capital speaks to its strong brand and management team. We look forward to Grove growing in Portland and providing important technology-based jobs to our region.”

To find out more about Grove’s job openings in Maine, visit https://www.grove.co/home.

J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:

canderson@pressherald.com

Twitter: jcraiganderson


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