Stephen Silver
Amazon's latest brick-and-mortar experiment is opening on Thursday in New York City around the corner from Apple's flagship SoHo retail store, and AppleInsider stopped by to take a look.
Amazon made its name as an e-commerce retailer, which undercut its various retail competitors who were burdened by the cost of running brick-and-mortar stores. But more recently, Amazon has begun experimenting with physical stores of its own, and its latest experiment opens Thursday: Amazon 4-Star.
Amazon 4-star opens tomorrow in the SoHo neighborhood of #NYC - check out a sneak peek of the store here: https://t.co/tA2G8zI5OK pic.twitter.com/UYD0UeEkA5
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) September 26, 2018
Amazon described the location in a blog post as "a new physical store where everything for sale is rated 4 stars and above, is a top seller, or is new and trending on Amazon.com." It also offers Prime prices in store for Prime customers.
Products run from everything from books to consumer electronics to toys and more.
The store is located at 72 Spring Street in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood, close to the SoHo Apple Store at 103 Prince Street that was Apple's first retail outlet in New York City. While Microsoft has tried a similar strategy of opening retail stores near Apple's own locations, Amazon's location at least has a more unique look that doesn't seem lifted straight from Apple's own design aesthetic.
AppleInsider visited the new Amazon store prior to its opening on Thursday morning.
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Wesley Hilliard
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11 Comments
Any perks if you’re a Prime subscriber?
> a more unique look that doesn't seem lifted straight from Apple's own design aesthetic
Instead they lifted straight from Barnes & Noble
Amazon did not start out a general retailer- they were a bookstore. They branched into other stuff later.
The Amazon bricks & mortar thing was because greedy states, counties and cities that want to tax everything that moves (or holds still). That and lobbyists for the chain stores.
I personally hope Amazon bankrupts the chain stores whose lobbyists ended the tax exemption. Not sure why my state, county or city thinks it is entitled to tax something not bought within its territory. Same for stuff like satellite radio.
Citizens are not tax serfs, bound to the soil.
Anyhow, Gotham could use a few stores with reasonable prices.
The return of the department store? Looks okay inside, nothing special and nothing like an Apple store.