Sweetwater touts record year

By Alex Brown | Inside INdiana Business

Fort Wayne-based Sweetwater is celebrating another record year in 2018. The online music retailer says total sales reached $725 million, a 17 percent increase over the previous record-breaking year.

Sweetwater says its also added nearly 400 employees during the same time period. About 40 percent of employees are being hired from outside of the Fort Wayne area.

"We are proud to bring so many talented workers to Sweetwater and for them to make Fort Wayne their home," said Jeff McDonald, senior vice president of human resources, said in a news release. "It's clear that Sweetwater has become an employer of choice, allowing us to attract the best and brightest to our outstanding campus."

Sweetwater says its annual total sales have increased between 17 percent and 28 percent every year since 2010. Additionally, the number of students to take lessons at the Sweetwater Academy increased from 700 in 2017 to 850 in 20198, logging more than 14,000 hours of instruction.

Last year, the company announced a $76 million expansion project, including a 350,000-square-foot warehouse and 30,000-square-foot event center, that would create 1,000 jobs over five years. Construction on the project is underway and Sweetwater expects both buildings to be operational by 2020.