Amazon has opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Seattle, in a move that takes the e-Commerce powerhouse back to its roots: selling books. Amazon Books, as the store is called, officially opened its doors on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
“Amazon Books is a physical extension of Amazon.com,” said Jennifer Cast, VP of Amazon Books, in a letter to consumers. “We’ve applied 20 years of online bookselling experience to build a store that integrates the benefits of offline and online book shopping.”
Amazon has dabbled in physical retailing in the past, opening pop-up kiosks in California and reportedly examining the possibility of building a New York City warehouse in 2014. However, Amazon Books is the first permanent location dedicated to selling Amazon-related items.
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Books in the store are selected based on Amazon.com customer ratings, pre-orders, sales, popularity on Goodreads, and Amazon curators’ assessments. Books on display will include placards showing individual customer reviews and the average rating posted online.
Amazon devices such as Kindle, Echo, Fire TV and Fire Tablet will also be sold in the store. Pricing of books and devices is the same as that offered on Amazon.com.
The store, which is located in Seattle’s University Village, will be open seven days a week, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
