Amazon opens 1st brick-and-mortar bookstore at U Village

  • Associated Press
  • Tuesday, November 3, 2015 1:43pm
  • Business

SEATTLE — Online retail giant Amazon opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore on Tuesday, two decades after it began selling books over the Internet and helped drive a number of shops out of business.

The Seattle store, Amazon Books, will be a physical extension of the company website, combining the benefits of online pricing with traditional book shopping, the company said.

It will offer as many as 6,000 top-rated titles, culled from Amazon.com customer ratings, sales, pre-orders and other factors.

The Seattle-based company did not explain its strategy in opening the store or say whether it would open more retail locations.

Amazon Books vice president Jennifer Cast told The Seattle Times, “We hope this is not our only one. But we’ll see.”

The first shoppers found displays of books with cards containing ratings and reviews. Amazon said it wanted shoppers to walk out with books or later purchase their picks online.

Kenneth Yoder, 58, a Seattle concierge, was among the first in line when the wood and glass doors opened at University Village, an upscale outdoor shopping center in north Seattle that’s also the site of Apple and Microsoft stores.

“I’m excited to physically look and see what the selection is like,” said Yoder, who buys books online and in stores.

Others scratched their heads over the irony of the physical location because Amazon is seen by some as one reason so many independent and other booksellers have gone out of business in recent years.

“They’re the dominant retailer in the country, and they kind of got there by playing real hard ball,” said John Mutter, editor-in-chief of the book trade newsletter Shelf Awareness. “They are considered the Darth Vader of the business because they play really brutally.”

Yet the store makes sense because it was a missing part of the company’s book business, Mutter said.

Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst with Forrester Research, said the store appears to be an experiment to see what the company can learn.

“If they sell books, awesome. Even if they don’t sell books, there’s a lot to learn about how people discover products, how they shop for products,” Mulpuru said. “Does a physical store increase your likelihood to spend with Amazon in general? Does it make you more loyal to Amazon?”

Peter Aaron, owner of Seattle’s independent Elliott Bay Book Co., which offers about 160,000 books, said he wasn’t sure what to make of the move by the online retailer.

“I can’t imagine that there would be any profit, especially if their pricing is identical to the prices online, given rent and staffing,” he added.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.