Online market place opens its first physical bookstore today

zainab quadri

November 3, 2015 11:02 AM

20 years after it started selling books online, Amazon opens a physical bookstore with books for sale on actual shelves.

Amazon opens its first physical bookstore today

20 years after it started selling books online, Amazon opens a physical bookstore with books for sale on actual shelves.

Bookstore owners often think of Amazon.com as the enemy.

Now it finally became one of them.

Today, Amazon opened a store in Seattle called Amazon Books. Not only is it one of Amazon's first physical locations, but it's also Amazon's first physical bookstore.

The store is located in Seattle's University Village and will be open seven days a week, except for holidays. Amazon says that this is a permanent location — not just a pop-up shop — which means that Amazon Books should be around for some time to come.

The bookstore would not be like every random bookstore because it would be relying on Amazon.com data — including customer ratings, sales totals, and Goodread's popularity — to decide which books to stock.

In addition to selling books, Amazon is also going to be putting its devices on display. Visitors will be able to try Kindles, the Echo, the Fire TV, and Fire Tablets.

One thing that Amazon's store seems to be doing differently is putting all of its books face out, rather than spine out, and putting up a placard for each of them that contains their Amazon.com rating and an actual customer review. In-store prices will all match online prices, too.

According to Seattle Times, the outlet will carry best sellers, as well as books that the state's residents are most likely to buy. In addition, it will be selling titles that are rated highly on the e-retailer's website.

If they still end up gathering dust, though, Amazon has the power to send them back to their publishers.

Unfortunately, Amazon Books vice president Jennifer Cast couldn't tell the publication whether the company has plans to build more outlets. She said the retailer's focusing on Seattle's bookstore at the moment, but that they're all hoping it's not their only one.

zainab quadri