Looks like a great way to buy a bestseller from Amazon without having to wait for shipping. But it's not going to appeal much to the kind of people who are willing to spend hours wandering the aisles of a real bookstore. One of the things that makes me a very happy Portlander is that Powell's City of Books (<a href="http://powells.com" rel="nofollow">http://powells.com</a>) is always <i>crowded</i> with blissed-out bibliophiles perusing the million-plus new+used volumes.<p>But I could be all wrong. I don't understand the business of books at all, because I would think that a store like Powell's would flourish in other literate locations (e.g., Minneapolis / St Paul), and yet it remains sadly unique in the U.S.
In the various reviews I've seen for this store, no one seems to have raised the question of, how would a store like this be profitable? It's selling books at the same prices as Amazon online, but with the added overhead of being in a very high-rent space in an upscale shopping center. There seem to be lots of employees for a book store. At the discounts that Amazon offers, their margin on books is thinner than most bookstores. Sales would need to be very high to make this pencil out, from what I can see.<p>This might be a play like the old Crown Books stores which sold only best sellers at a big discount with the idea of making it up on volume. But Crown did not last long. Amazon does have good data about what people buy, so perhaps they could maximize revenue per square foot by packing popular sellers in. On the other hand, one departure of this store from typical bookstores is that books are all facing out on the shelves, meaning fewer titles and probably less revenue per square foot.<p>I'm wondering how this approach to bookstores could pay off for Amazon, except by putting competitive pressure on any other bookstores in the area. But Barnes and Noble closed the store it had in this shopping center quite some time ago. Is it advertising, an attempt to upscale Amazon's brand? Amazon has the number one favorable brand among consumers from what I've read, and it's certainly where most people go these days for books -- last report I saw said over 80% of book buyers use Amazon. So what the business purpose of this store is, unclear to me. But it's Amazon, and surely they're just a few steps ahead of what I can see.
>The second advantage is actually a side effect of their limited selection approach. They are essentially offering a pre-selection service to the public.<p>this seems less like "a review of the amazon books store" and more like "an amazon user finds out what a book store is"
Does anyone have a good online bookselling that isn't Amazon? I started using abebooks before realizing its Amazon owned. bookdepository.com is good, but not great. oreilly.com is good for their stuff. B&N is OK I guess.
<i>"The central section however is dedicated to various gadgets, mostly created by Amazon itself, such as Echo, Fire TV, Kindle Fire, etc. In this the shop reminded me a little of the Apple Store, which clearly inspired the layout of this section."</i><p>The focal point of the "amazon books" store is its tech, not books. They are using "book store" as a cover. The U-Village is an upscale shopping experience and easily allows for impulse buys on new $100+ tech products. It's their version of the Apple Store.
What? No Jeff Bezos robot?!
<a href="http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/2247.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/2247.html</a>
Knowing the terrible privacy- and tracking-issue history as related to the Amazon app, I would never install it for any reason, much less just to check prices.<p>In fact, after reading this, it makes me wonder if the real purpose behind these stores isn't simply to force people to install the app.