Lululemon reported plans to expand its headquarters in Vancouver, promising to create 2,600 jobs over the next five years. In 2022, Lululemon employed nearly 9,000 people in Canada.
According to a release from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), expanding Lululemon’s headquarters will “significantly boost British Columbia’s prosperity.”
The report comes months after Canada’s government granted Lululemon the ability to hire foreign workers for certain highly skilled positions, including management jobs, software engineers and computer technicians, without needing to apply for a labor market impact assessment. According to The Canadian Press, Federal Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said that if the government hadn’t acted, the company’s headquarters might have left Vancouver.
In a statement, Lululemon said it has “employed, and continues to employ, thousands of Canadians while bringing people with unique skill sets from abroad to the province, “fueling Canada’s innovation engine.” This expansion project, and the company’s growth, will benefit from the collaboration of the federal and provincial governments after being recognized as a “significant investment project under the Canada-British Columbia Immigration Agreement.” This recognition allows the company “to further welcome international talent in a variety of high-skilled occupations.”
Due to the new agreement, Lululemon reportedly secured an additional 125,000 square feet of office space in downtown Vancouver. The planned expansion includes the growth of its store support and global training centers.
“Our people are at the heart of our organization,” said Calvin McDonald, CEO, Lululemon. “This program provides us with the opportunity to bring global talent to our hometown of Vancouver, supporting our people to collaborate and innovate together as they build long and meaningful careers at Lululemon. As a proudly Canadian brand, we are fortunate to be in partnership with the provincial and federal governments, who were able to move this forward for us.”
Numerous local officials welcomed Lululemon’s growth plans for its global headquarters.
