Politicians gushed and a company official crowed but it was the little blue robots that stole the show Thursday as e-commerce giant Amazon pulled back the veil on the massive distribution center it has been working on in Oildale for close to two years.

A day after announcing it was looking for 1,000 workers to help staff the facility, the Seattle-based retailer gave local public officials and news reporters a tour of the building expected to begin operations Sept. 6 across Merle Haggard Drive from Meadows Field Airport.

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