Amazon already has a physical bookstore open in Seattle. Chicago is due to get two bookstores next year. Portland and San Diego are due to get an Amazon bookstore. Just how many bookstores does Amazon plan on opening?
Publishers Weekly reports:
Sandy Mathrani, head of General Growth Properties, said in response to a question about his company’s fourth-quarter results that it is his understanding that Amazon’s goal is to open 300–400 bookstores. The comment came as Mathrani was trying to explain why physical retailers remain important even as more customers shop online.
Just how many is 300-400 bookstores? Apple has 270 stores in America.
How about Borders? The former king of the bookstore had around 1,200 bookstores!
(original Borders chart from wsj.com)
Wow, there are a lot more Borders bookstores than Amazon’s. Borders has triple the amount of stores over Amazon’s. The speculative plans for Amazon’s physical bookstores are more in comparison with Apple store numbers, rather than Borders’ large fleet of former bookstores.
Are you rooting for or against Amazon opening up physical bookstores?
Publishers Weekly has some good speculation, both for and against Amazon opening up this many physical bookstores. Some say that it would destroy the existing book market. Others say Amazon would be wiser in opening up stores to showcase their higher profit margin products, like tech gadgets.
I would welcome the additional Amazon stores. The more channels we have available for books, the better. Would Amazon take away from existing brick and mortar stores? Perhaps, some. But you do have to wonder how many people would purchase books from the Amazon physical store, when it’s so Amazon is so cemented in consumers’ minds as an online store, how would their physical locations perform?
That is great news! I miss the days of visiting the local Borders and browsing their book selection.
One of the two in Chicago will be a pick-up location. That’s not really a store. I wonder how many of the 300-400 will be pick-up locations and not a store where consumers can browse.
This is actually not news, it’s speculation. We don’t know for sure if Amazon will open this many stores. However, it’s rather fun to think about.
I’m not sure if the neighborhood I live in (Oak Park) needs an Amazon store. We already have a fantastic bookstore (The Book Table) and a children’s bookstore (Magic Tree). Years before I moved into Oak Park, there used to be a rather large Borders down the street from these two local shops. Since Borders left, the building has remain vacated on a rather busy intersection (Lake and Harlem)–until now. Bank of America is opening a location in that spot. Like what we need is ANOTHER bank chain. But now I’m being negative to both the Amazon and the bank at that spot. I shouldn’t complain.
There are many locations that surely could benefit from this Amazon bookstore. I hope the Lakeview one does very well.