Amazon does many things very well. Running their own retail book stores is not one of them, as they confirmed that all 68 of their locations would be closed down. This includes all of the AMZN Books stores and their “4-star” stores as well, where they sold products that customers had given high ratings to online.
What’s ironic is that Amazon’s success as an e-commerce giant was responsible for so many mom-and-pop book stores being shut down around the country. Maybe America only wants to buy books on their phone or computer.
Amazon is not bailing on retail altogether – they are planning to focus more on their other retail endeavors, including the dedicated grocery stores Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods. They also made a foray into fashion, launching an apparel store called Amazon Style.
Here’s a quote from Betsy Harden, a spokesperson for Amazon. “We remain committed to building great, long-term physical retail experiences and technologies, and we’re working closely with our affected employees to help them find new roles within Amazon.”
The first physical bookstore Amazon opened was seven years ago in Seattle. The company maintains a considerable presence in retail, with over 670 physical stores in North America.
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