The e-commerce giant’s brick and mortar ambitions grow.
Amazon plans to open a brick and mortar bookstore near Boston, marking just the latest in the e-commerce giant’s effort to build a national bookstore chain.
The store will be located in a shopping center in Dedham, Mass., a Boston suburb, according to an Amazon job listing. The company already operates a bookstore in Seattle, near its headquarters, and has disclosed plans for additional stores in San Diego, Chicago, and Portland. The company is also rumored to be opening a store in New York City. It is also rumored to be planning a store in New York City; an Amazon spokesperson declined to comment about the possibility. Amazon also confirmed plans for a store in Boston.
Amazon was originally founded with the ambition of putting brick and mortar bookstores out of business. Its aggressive discounting of books online eventually helped to drive bookstore chain Borders out of business in 2011 and hurt Barnes & Noble, the largest U.S. brick and mortar bookstore chain.
Earlier this year, a shopping mall CEO revealed on his company’s earnings call that Amazon planned to open hundreds of bookstores this year. The CEO then retracted his statement. But Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said recently at the company’s annual shareholder meeting that the e-commerce giant is “definitely” opening more stores, although he did not reveal how many. “In these early days it’s all about learning, rather than trying to earn a lot of revenue,” Bezos said of the bookstores.