BRUNSWICK – Online furnishing and home decor giant Wayfair is meeting a goal set when its Brunswick office opened two years ago and will soon have more than 500 employees.

The company unveiled its recently expanded space at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, and plans to add 150 more jobs. With the new additions, the company’s Brunswick workforce will climb to 550.

Positions being added include roles in customer service, business to business sales, supplier operations, merchandising operations and merchandising imagery.

Linda Smith, Brunswick’s economic and community development director, said some companies may overestimate when setting hiring goals, but Wayfair has delivered on their projects.

“The fact that they’ve delivered on all of their hiring goals is impressive,” she said. “It sounds like they’re going to grow past their initial target.”

The timeline for when more employees will be added to the company’s ranks has yet to be determined. There are currently more than 400 employees working in Brunswick.

Liz Graham, Wayfair’s vice president of sales and service, said the company has grown faster than even management expected.

“I would say it’s hard for us to speculate because if you asked me to speculate where we’d be at this point in time I probably would have well undershot,” she said. “I’m not going to put a bet out there, but we’ve been able to hire as quickly as we’ve needed to.”

“We’d like to fill them all as fast as possible,” added Chief Financial Officer Michael Fleischer. “But, it’s a matter of finding great talent to do it.”

The company has been able to do that to this point, Fleischer said, noting that the state’s university network and established professionals in Maine attracted Wayfair to Brunswick.

Smith is happy it chose the town for its operations.

“I’ll put it in a little context,” she said. “It’s rare to have an opportunity to approach a company that is looking to add 500 jobs.”

Smith credited Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority and Priority Real Estate Group for their work to bring new business to Brunswick Landing. She said the growth has prompted the town to look at adding another road to make access to Brunswick Landing and Cook’s Corner mall easier.

“I think it will go a long way to help us keep a good pace,” said Smith. “It will help anyone commuting out that way.”

The expansion to Wayfair’s facility at the former Navy Exchange includes space for the 150 new employees, seven new conference rooms, a wellness room, and a new kitchen and dining area. Wayfair listened to input from employees as to what they would like to see in the new space.

The company announced its arrival in Maine in 2016, with intentions to bring more than 500 jobs to Brunswick and another 450 to Bangor.

“Wayfair, less than 5 years ago there was less than 1,000 people in company,” said Fleischer. “At some point we’ll be crossing 1,000 in Maine. Wayfair as a business is growing really well.”

chris@timesrecord.com

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