Clutch officially announced the launch of a refurbishing centre in Richmond, B.C., today as the online car retailer continues its to build out its capabilities across Canada.

The 30,500-square-foot location is Clutch’s third operational hub for vehicle inspection, reconditioning and logistics capabilities in Canada. The ecommerce company unveiled a 111,000-square-foot facility in Mississauga in March to pair with its flagship inspection centre in Halifax, opened in 2017.

Brent Gudelot, Clutch’s head of Western Canada, tells strategy that the new facility paves the way for B.C. customers to eventually access the full end-to-end online buying-and-selling experience, which is currently only available in Ontario and in the Maritime provinces. For the first few months in B.C., Clutch will focus solely on buying vehicles to assess the market and sort out logistics before beginning to sell early in 2026.

“Right now, we’re a sell-to-Clutch market only,” Gudelot says. “What this allows us to do is really build up the team, work on logistics, assess real estate, just really set the groundwork for a successful launch of retail selling to customers. And so we ensure we have a steady state of car inventory that is up to par.”

The opening marks a return to Richmond for Clutch, which operated out of the same facility between 2021 and 2023. Clutch laid off 65% of its staff in early 2023 and pulled out of Western Canada after $95 million in financing fell through in January of that year, according to reporting from the Globe and Mail. The reopened facility is built to support 1,000-plus employees over the next two years, a Clutch news release said.

“The market was very different back then, and so we had to kind of grow up as a company work on the fundamentals,” Gudelot says. “We’ve already eclipsed the number of people in the company since then. It takes a lot of people to run an operation in Western Canada, and that’s what we plan to do.”

Gudelot says Clutch is still deciding between Calgary or Edmonton for the site of its next refurbishing centre, with plans to open next year.

“We’re a very East-based company right now. And now it’s time to expand to the West.”

Clutch has been increasing visibility in Vancouver with the launch of a national ad campaign on regional sports channels and radio and through OOH in the metro that includes a transit wrap of the city’s SkyTrain. Clutch head of marketing Mark Arvai told strategy last month that, broadly speaking, the company mixes region-specific marketing with nationally broadcast television campaigns in an effort to stand out and build consumer trust.

In early July, the company opened its first brick-and-mortar pickup and delivery store at Cadillac Fairview Markville Shopping Centre in Markham, Ont., to serve as a touchpoint for customers more comfortable with the in-person experience.

Clutch says it’s recently surpassed $1 billion in vehicles purchased directly from Canadians and now buys more $3 million worth of vehicles a day.