Worldwide racing equipment company Fox Racing Shox has moved its corporate offices from Watsonville to Scotts Valley.
With little fanfare, Fox moved into one of the buildings about a year ago, formerly occupied by Seagate Technology on Disc Drive.
According to trade publication Bicycle Retailer, Fox’s corporate offices moved from Watsonville to Scotts Valley so that manufacturing and assembly could be consolidated at a single site in Watsonville.
Fox’s executive staff, finance, sales and marketing departments for the bicycle and power sports divisions are all in Scotts Valley. The office space is estimated at about 50,000 square feet.
The new space is more than 51,100 square feet and according to city records, 130 full time employees work there.
“Any business coming in and filling open space is great,” said Mayor Donna Lind. “To bring in a strong, thriving business and provide jobs in this community is huge. It helps us in numerous ways.”
Representatives from Fox declined to comment for this story.
According to its annual report, the company had net sales of $171 million in 2010, after sales of $121.5 million in 2009 and $131.7 million in 2008.
Fox, founded by Bob Fox in Watsonville in 1974, was purchased by publicly traded Compass Diversified Holdings in 2008.
According to Bicycle Retailer, Fox’s Watsonville expansion in the early 2000s meant that parts would arrive at one building, be sent to another building for assembly and then be taken to a third building for shipment. Having a single location should improve efficiency.
The new corporate headquarters are at 915 Disc Drive, across the street from Bay Photo’s future digs on Disc Drive.
Bay Photo purchased the 17-acre property for $10.7 million in September. The photo company will move into a converted 105,000-square-foot building in July.
