Amazon Gets Physical

Looks like Amazon is opening a bookstore in Seattle. The Seattle Times reports:

The store, called Amazon Books, looks a lot like bookstores that populate malls across the country. Its wood shelves are stocked with 5,000 to 6,000 titles, best-sellers as well as Amazon.com customer favorites.

The new store includes, for example, “Bald, Fat & Crazy: How I Beat Cancer While Pregnant with One Daughter and Adopting Another” by Stephanie Hosford, a title that ranks 622,923 in books sold on Amazon. But those who have read it seem to love it. The book has a 5-star rating from all 56 customers who have reviewed it on the site.

I’m sure it’s a great book, but 56 reviews does seem like a small sample size. Still, nice to see an author get that kind of placement.

Amazon will charge the same price for books in the store as it does online.

Something Barnes and Noble does not do.

The store will not be a location to pick up Amazon orders. It won’t be a showcase for Amazon Publishing imprints, whose titles often aren’t picked up by the company’s retail competitors.

Hm, so I guess this means no Four Hour Chef impulse buys.  It’s interesting to see how Amazon is trying to make this the sort of place that’s been infused by its hallmark biblio-centric features – book ratings and purchase data – but not dominated by other, newer Amazon endeavors like publishing, Prime, or pickups.

And while the store will showcase some of Amazon’s gadgets, such as its Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets and Fire TV streaming-media devices, it will be first and foremost a bookstore.

L2, a digital research firm, points out that omnichannel retail – wherein firms have robust presences both online and in stores – is the best way for companies to do business. It would seem as though Amazon is dipping its toe into those waters, and in a way that stays true to its online bookstore roots. Now I just need to find that new JK Rowling Robert Gailbraith mystery novel.