Amazon's first bookstore
November 3, 2015
Amazon, the company that pioneered online bookselling - and became a target of ire over the demise of many mom-and-pop bookstores throughout the US - opened a flagship store in Seattle, Washington on Tuesday.
The new location is in Seattle's University Village, a shopping center where a Barnes & Noble bookstore - the largest bookselling chain in the US - once stood.
The new store is called Amazon Books. On Tuesday, shelves were filled with best-sellers, books that received the highest ratings from Amazon's online customers and lesser-known titles.
"The books in our store are selected based on Amazon.com customer ratings, pre-orders, sales, popularity on Goodreads and our curators' assessments," Amazon said on a web page for the shop.
Amazon said prices will be identical online and at the bookstore. It also encouraged customers to use its mobile application to read reviews and get more information about items.
tko/cjc (AFP, dpa)