Amazon Plans To Open Up To 400 Bookstores?

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Why in the world would Amazon open 400 book stores? Unless the plan all along was to drive book stores out of business so that years later it could open 400 brick and mortar book stores. :confused:

Amazon.com Inc plans to open up to 400 physical bookstores, an executive of a major U.S. mall operator said on Tuesday. Amazon dipped its toe into the waters of brick-and-mortar stores with the opening of a bookstore in its home city of Seattle in November. An expansion of bookstores, which the company has not confirmed, would be a surprise reversal from the online retailer credited with driving physical booksellers out of business.
 
Bizarre, operating new bookstores today are shifting a large portion of their sales space to trinkets and bobbles to offset their loss in book sales.
 
Amazon should stick to what they do best, and what they've done so far.

If Walmart were smart, they could become the next Amazon, as they've got a foothold in the retail market. It's easier to start a viable, strong internet sales presence with a B&M stores already all over the country, than the other way around.
 
Camouflage for a new brand of coffee shop? Bring your Kindle and buy a cup?
 
poot said:
Camouflage for a new brand of coffee shop? Bring your Kindle and buy a cup?
Click to expand...

I don't know about coffee shop, but is probably something other than just a traditional bookstore.
 
Steve said:
Why in the world would Amazon open 400 book stores? Unless the plan all along was to drive book stores out of business so that years later it could open 400 brick and mortar book stores. :confused:
Click to expand...

Bezo's must of had a traumatic incident with a local book store to run that long con. For those small book stores that managed to survive B&N then Amazon then Amazon again must be asking what next.
 
Well, a few weeks back there were a couple of books I needed right away, but I like physical copies. B&N didn't have them and Amazon took their sweet time to ship. There's something about going to the store and browsing the book before you buy it.

I'm thinking they may use them to offset mini distribution hubs / pickup locations. Bookstore in the front, warehouse in the back (or on top, if they build their own). It'll allow for 400 more hubs to be added for the most popular orders.
 
Well, since the Barnes & Noble closed down in Forest Hills, Queens (due to their landlord raising rent), I'd welcome a Amazon bookstore in the Austin Street area ...
 
Yakk said:
Bizarre, operating new bookstores today are shifting a large portion of their sales space to trinkets and bobbles to offset their loss in book sales.
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That is one reason some of us have stopped going to them. I go to a bookstore to buy books, not kids toys or overpriced movies music and whatever else they toss out there.

I like browsing the shelves but the last few years B&N service has gone downhill. The few local bookstores left don't have anywhere near the selection of B&N. So 95% of my book orders come thru amazon now. So if they open a bookstore with ya know, books, and good customer service I'll shop there.
 
Bad Idea

Reason being people don't read books like they used to... It's either digital or the magazine is way over priced the comic books are over priced our local bookstore has a very hard time making a go of it they got rid of half or almost all of the comic books it downsized stocking less and less magazines plus the stock market right now is unpredictable which gives people less money to spend on dead trees or books.
 
This makes absolutely no sense which apparently is the view of most that have posted here. There has been some rebound in physical books but Amazon already is too thin to the line to open up physical stores unless there's something really unique about them. Like something other than books.
 
unless... these bookstores are really just fronts for strategically located warehouses so they can bring same day shipping to more locations
 
nowwhatnapster said:
unless... these bookstores are really just fronts for strategically located warehouses so they can bring same day shipping to more locations
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. This makes a lot of sense if they're planing to do Prime Now throughout the country. I assume this marks the end of purchases sans sales tax (and yes I know you're supposed to pay a use tax in most cases).
 
Spidey329 said:
I'm thinking they may use them to offset mini distribution hubs / pickup locations. Bookstore in the front, warehouse in the back (or on top, if they build their own). It'll allow for 400 more hubs to be added for the most popular orders.
Click to expand...
^^^^^^^^^^^
nowwhatnapster said:
unless... these bookstores are really just fronts for strategically located warehouses so they can bring same day shipping to more locations
Click to expand...
 
Does selling you a physical copy of a code to download a digital book count as a physical book?
 
I'd think this would compete with themselves? Amazon is always cheaper. :confused:
 
The warehouse with a bookstore facade sounds more relevant. With 70% of your reading market doing the E~book thing may be they will be download hubs. I just hope they have braille porn
 
Comixbooks said:
Bad Idea

Reason being people don't read books like they used to... It's either digital or the magazine is way over priced the comic books are over priced our local bookstore has a very hard time making a go of it they got rid of half or almost all of the comic books it downsized stocking less and less magazines plus the stock market right now is unpredictable which gives people less money to spend on dead trees or books.
Click to expand...

A lot of people do still buy physical books, but why would you need to go to a physical store to do so? It's not like you have to try them on or check them for freshness.
 
not surprised. they've been experimenting with running/opening college/university bookstores (it's almost impossible to run one on a profit). there's a need for immediate access to literature. not sure about normal stores but i'm sure they've done a bit of research on this... lol
 
The largest cost of any business is the site storage.

Opening up retail locations only increases the cost of the books...

UNLESS...

You convert a portion of your distribution warehouses into stores. That becomes a win-win.
 
Quix said:
A lot of people do still buy physical books, but why would you need to go to a physical store to do so? It's not like you have to try them on or check them for freshness.
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You never picked up a programming manual to see if it fits your needs?

I have "Javascript & Jquery" and "HTML & CSS" both by Wiley and they sold a ton. So I went on sales, reviews, and reputation. But when it comes to graphics, and bleeding edge technology like drag-n-drop on the web they are severely lacking even though they are part of the HTML 5 standard. I didn't find this out till I got the books.
 
With Amazon Echo listening in, they'll be able to figure out what to put in those book stores.
 
The problem with the book store/warehouse theory is that retail locations are generally several times more expensive to lease/buy than warehouse locations. A small retail location in my city is about 10K a month to rent versus about 3K for a warehouse location of 10x the size.
 
Quix said:
A lot of people do still buy physical books, but why would you need to go to a physical store to do so? It's not like you have to try them on or check them for freshness.
Click to expand...

Really not complicated. People like to browse. If I don't know a specific book I want I go in and look at them, pick them up read the cover maybe a flip thru the book to check out the writing. All things I could do online. But I like going to the store looking and finding new books.

Some of you act like bookstores are barren wastelands with no people. Some are loosing money I'm sure, but many are doing fine. One of the borders stores here only closed because the company went away. The store was always busy and was making money. Same with most of the remaining local stores and the B&N's in the area.

People do actually still go out and shop, not everyone does everything online.
 
I'm a huge fan of Audible, which is a subsidiary of Amazon now. But unfortunately this would do nothing for me.

I do pick up audiobooks from the library from time to time.....but that's cause they are free to rip :cool:
 
Amazon is just returning to its roots since the company was founded as an online bookstore, but seeing how it's Amazon, there is probably much more to the story. They probably will leave out the part where each of the proposed bookstores will be 200,000 square feet each. :D
 
An amazon kiosk where they sell kindles, accessories, and have a local cache for fast loading on a Kindle would sorta make sense. A full store, nope.
 
Honestly, considering we have an apple store and a microsoft store, why not an Amazon store?
I'm sure they've thought it through. I suspect, as others have said, it will reduce shipping costs or shipping times and also be a way to show off kindles and other amazon electronics. I wouldn't be surprised if it's cost neutral or run at a loss in order to keep growing the customer base and compete with others who are offering fast shipping. Same day shipping would be unbeatable - if amazon gets there first who wouldn't just buy everything on amazon?
 
there are times when you want a physical book but it's amazon's best advantage that the books are basically dropped shipped and they only have to have one copy in one place? I know most of my books I have collected since about 2008 when I had to get rid of about five thousand paper back books due to moving after a company I was working for fell apart. You have no idea what it is like to be told by one person they will buy the whole collection for twenty five cents a book knowing they will sell them for five to twenty five dollars a book depending on how rare and someone else says a dollar a book and sends you a check for two hundred dollars... then spends then six months listed them for five to fifteen dollars a book... meh I think I have four or five books in my home now that are physical and the rest epub, mobi, doc, and few older ones like libs. Some people on here my not even remember the old pda which looked a lot like black berry 2 inch by four inche screen physical buttons...

strange. does this mean books are going to get more expensive again? books went from 20 dollar hard backs and five dollar paperbacks because of the over head of paying for the clerk at the counter to check out the books. The smiles were free.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
The largest cost of any business is the site storage.

Opening up retail locations only increases the cost of the books...

UNLESS...

You convert a portion of your distribution warehouses into stores. That becomes a win-win.
Click to expand...

I think this is more a case of them opening stores that double as small warehouses for prime-now distribution. After all, once you open a retail store in a state, you have to charge sales tax, and if your'e doing that, you better be able to deliver quickly..esp for prime members.
 
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