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It seems that even one of the biggest retailers in the world is partial to the odd hipster project.
Amazon, more than 20 years after starting out as an exclusively online bookseller, has decided to open its first physical book shop.
Pretty retro, right?
The shop in Seattle – called Amazon Books – is the online giant’s first actual, real-life store.
Amazon said it will be a physical extension of Amazon.com, with the books on display selected based on online customer ratings, pre-orders, sales, popularity on Goodreads and curator assessments.
Photos of the store show a section displaying the most popular books released this week according to pre-orders on Amazon.com, while another shelf contains those that are highly rated with 4.8 stars and above.
As cool as it sounds, it’s fair to say that not everyone is taking the idea seriously.
The weirdest part about the Amazon bookstore is after you leave, the books you looked at will just follow you around all day
— Alex Fitzpatrick (@AlexJamesFitz) November 3, 2015
Amazon are opening an actual bookstore. As soon as you buy a book there, you fall through a trapdoor into a room stocked with similar items.
— paul bassett davies (@thewritertype) November 3, 2015
Amazon has a bookstore. When does eBay start holding garage sales?
— John Sullivan (@johns_FSF) November 3, 2015
The books are displayed face-out, and under each one is a review card with the Amazon.com customer rating and a review.
Prices in the store are the same as those on Amazon.com.
In addition to books, customers can try to buy Amazon’s devices from across the Kindle, Echo, Fire TV and Fire Tablet ranges.
In a letter to customers, Amazon Books vice president Jennifer Cast wrote: “Amazon Books is a physical extension of Amazon.com.
“We’ve applied 20 years of online bookselling experience to build a store that integrates the benefits of offline and online book shopping.”
