On Tuesday, Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos confirmed that the online retailer plans to open more physical stores. Amazon opened its first physical store, Amazon Books, in Seattle in 2015; later this year, the company will open a bookstore in San Diego.
“Bezos told shareholders that operating physical stores is an experiment,” reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer. “So far, the industry is casting a wary eye on Amazon’s plans, and I think that is a function of, well, always having to be wary of Amazon.
“To me, it makes sense for certain markets,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “If there is anything that we’ve learned about the Digital Age, it is that the physical component remains important – whether there is an efficiency to be realized in creating a depot for Amazon, or a pick up zone for its products, or whether they are testing how books might benefit from the additional physical presence.”
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Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.