Massachusetts e-commerce company Wayfair said Monday it will open a new call center in Springfield and hire more than 600 to staff it.

Wayfair said it has begun hiring in anticipation of opening sometime this spring.

Springfield has been a call center hub for decades, with thousands of people answering phones and handling online inquiries for an array of companies, including Royal Caribbean and Symantec.

It’s relatively low-paid work, with high turnover by both employees and employers. Symantec, for example, once employed 1,400 in Springfield but has downsized repeatedly and sold its site there last year, according to The Register-Guard.

Business Oregon, the state’s economic development agency, said Wayfair will occupy 50,000 square feet on Symantec’s former campus, now owned by PacificSource. Oregon gave Wayfair a $400,000 grant to finance the project, which the company must repay if it misses its 600-employee target or fails to invest in a local internship program.

Additionally, Wayfair will operate in an enterprise zone, which exempts its facility from property taxes.

Wayfair did not disclose a wage range, but the average customer service job in Lane County pays $16.12 an hour, according to state labor data.

Lane County’s labor market is tight, with an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, according to state data. That’s modestly higher than the statewide rate, 3.9 percent.

Wayfair reported sales of $4.7 billion in 2017, the most recent full year available. That’s up 40 percent from the prior year. It lost $245 million, compared to a loss of $194 million in 2016.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699