CallCenter Services Inc. opened its new Salisbury telemarketing center yesterday, with tours of the 43,000-foot facility, an afternoon ribbon-cutting and cocktails and dinner at a local restaurant.

The 17-year-old firm, which has grown from an answering service for the New York Times to being the country's biggest customized telemarketing service for catalog retailers, now handles inbound calls for 21 firms, including clients as diverse as Frederick's of Hollywood, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lord & Taylor and the American Association of Retired Persons.

"With our corporate relocation from New Jersey to Maryland and opening of this new facility, we have brought approximately 400 new jobs to the state of Maryland and we continue to expand," said Gina Farinelli, a CallCenter spokeswoman.

CallCenter is a subsidiary of U.S. Delivery Systems, Inc., whose stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.