Netflix signs Butte lease.

By Holly Michels, of The Montana Standard - 06/29/2007

The online movie rental giant Netflix has signed a three-year lease on a building in Butte.

Jim Smitham, executive director of the Butte Local Development Corp., said Netflix is leasing Thompson Distributing’s Western Distribution Center on Nevada Street to the west of the main Thompson warehouse. It plans to use the 13,000-square-foot building to process DVDs.

Netflix is leasing from the facility’s new owner, BSW. That company, which serves people with disabilities, recently purchased all of Thompson’s Uptown distribution space to consolidate its day program.

Thompson Distributing is moving its operations to the old Safeway warehouse, officially known as the Montana Freeport Center, off Wynne Avenue near Margaret Leary Elementary School.

Netflix, headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif., has 44 hubs/distribution centers across the country, according its Web site. It employs 1,300 at its corporate headquarters and shipping centers.

The company is one of the world’s largest online movie rental services, with 6.8 million subscribers and nearly $1 billion in revenue during 2006.

Users pay a monthly fee to have DVDs mailed to their homes. There are no due dates, no late fees and no shipping fees.

On the Net: www.netflix.com.