![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/amazonbooks1.jpeg\")
It was weird. Not in a bad way. Possibly even in a good way. But weird in a way in that it was just so<\/em> familiar. I mean, it\u2019s a bookstore.<\/p>\nBut that in and of itself is weird because Amazon, of course, is the company that famously slaughtered the bookstore. Okay, that\u2019s a bit unfair to both sides. Independent bookstores appear to be thriving once again<\/a>. What Amazon did maim was the big-box bookstores \u2014 you know, the ones that almost killed the independent guys. In particular, Amazon destroyed Borders<\/a>, while Barnes & Noble<\/a> appears to be hanging on by a thread \u2013 a thread that includes the Borders trademark<\/a> now.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s most strange about Amazon\u2019s bookstore is what it most reminds me of \u2014 one of its victims: Borders.<\/p>\n You would not walk into an Amazon Books and mistake it for a mom & pop, independent shop. Nor would you mistake it for a throwback library. It looks like what Borders used to look like before Amazon killed Borders. It looks like salt in an old wound. Or a monument built on top of a gravesite \u2013 Amazon Books is opening in the same New York City shopping center where a flagship Borders<\/a> once stood.<\/p>\n So yeah, it\u2019s a bit uncanny walking into one of these stores \u2014 at least the one I visited in New York City. More specifically, Amazon Books feels like Borders if Borders had been created in 2017 (fine, technically they started testing in 2015<\/a>).<\/p>\n Then there are the gadget tables, which are intermixed in every area (as are Kindles throughout the store). There are a few areas devoted to Amazon devices, but there\u2019s also a lot of space devoted to other tangential technology created by other companies. Like Bose headphones and speakers. It really sort of does look like the manifestation of Amazon.com: Amazon products front and center \u2014 including things like batteries \u2014 but pretty much everything else, just in case.<\/p>\n Well, not everything. You won\u2019t find Apple products. Nor Google ones. Nor Microsoft ones. At least I couldn\u2019t. Not sure if this is policy or if it\u2019s just, you know, you could go to an Apple Store, or a Google Store, or a Microsoft Store if you wanted those things.<\/p>\n Or you could go to Amazon.com, of course.<\/p>\n Another notable element of Amazon Books is the \u201cIf You Like\u2026\u201d sections. This strikes me as a particularly smart thing to do in a physical store. It\u2019s the type of thing you might ask a bookstore employee about, but rather than a singular opinion, this is backed by Amazon data. And at quick glance, the recs are good. The same basic porting of Amazon\u2019s site-to-store exists in the \u201cPage Turners\u201d and \u201cHighly Rated\u201d sections of the store. Data. Data. Data.<\/p>\n Anyway, Amazon Books was a weird experience partially because it wasn\u2019t<\/em> all that weird \u2014 it looked like a bookstore, it was a bookstore. But it was also a little weird in the way that seeing Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One<\/em> is weird<\/a> \u2014 Amazon Books is like an artificial resurrection of Borders.<\/p>\n Will people like these stores? I think so, because they\u2019re bookstores. People like bookstores. Unfortunately for Borders, they just didn\u2019t like them enough to buy books at a higher cost from a chain \u2014 for that, people can and do go to independent bookstores. And if they want the best price and selection, they go to Amazon. And now they can also go to Amazon in person.<\/p>\n And they can buy other stuff there. Like gadgets \u2014 as long as they\u2019re not made by Apple or Google or Microsoft. Though maybe one day those too.<\/p>\n I will say there was a line out the door today. But it was day one. And Amazon Books is a curiosity. The store was also a little hard to navigate because it was filled with folks from the press as well.\u2075 People are interested<\/em> in these stores, but is it all novelty? Is it compelling in the same way that Henry Ford opening a stud farm<\/a> as his cars rolled off an assembly line would be compelling? It\u2019s a fun story. The ultimate middle finger<\/a>. But is it more?<\/p>\n My gut reaction is: I think<\/em> so, but I\u2019m not entirely sure why. Maybe it really is just as simple as the fact that people like bookstores. And Amazon made a fairly nice bookstore. And it\u2019s one that they can undoubtedly make work financially. Because they\u2019re Amazon, and they\u2019re run by a financial wizard<\/a>.<\/p>\n Would love a cafe in there though. Just saying.<\/p>\n Republished from 500ish Words<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/amazonbooks5.jpeg\")
First and foremost there are, of course, books. But rather than rows upon rows of spines, they all face forward, like a store of end-caps. And rather than prices, there are barcodes. Because Amazon gives you the online price if you\u2019re a Prime member, but the jacket price if you\u2019re not.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/amazonbooks7.jpeg\")
There are also barcode scanners all over the store. This is in case you find a book you like and want to see the Amazon price. Apparently you can do this with your smartphone as well, but opening the Amazon iOS app, I couldn\u2019t figure it out. And I\u2019m the type of person who should be able to figure such things out. (There is an area in the app to scan products themselves, or even packages, but I couldn’t find the barcode camera. I assume I just missed it.) So instead, I walked over to the physical scanners each time I wanted a price check.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/amazonbooks4.jpeg\")
I found myself wondering this while walking through the store: might this simply be step one for Amazon in retail? What if the goal, just as with the site, is to create \u201cThe Everything Store<\/a>\u201d \u2014 the actual<\/em> store version? Might books once again just be the first step? Certainly, what Amazon is doing in grocery<\/a> suggests this. But will Amazon bookstores one day morph into more generalized Amazon stores?<\/p>\n