In November 2015, Amazon opened its very first brick-and-mortar bookstore in Seattle. Initially, the location was treated as a sort of experimental project, but apparently it was successful enough for Amazon to invest some big change into opening 300 to 400 more retail establishments.
Although Amazon refrains from making any comment on rumors and speculation, according to CNBC, Amazon will attempt to offer books at the same price they offer them online. It's a bit ironic to think back on how Amazon has spent years driving massive book chains like Borders and B. Dalton out of business by using their competitors' stores as a showroom for shoppers to browse then luring those same shoppers to Amazon.com to buy books at lower prices.
We still don't know which cities Amazon has chosen to open their bookstores, but we do know that we are extremely intrigued to see how these retail locations will perform.
What's next for online retail? Will eBay open up physical secondhand stores? Will Netflix revive a chain similar to that of the late Blockbuster? Only time will tell...
