Amazon to Close Many Stores, Focus on Groceries

Amazon.com is doing an about-face on its move into brick and mortar to supplement its massive online presence by closing 68 brick and mortar stores.

The Seattle-based retailer said it will close all its bookstores (Remember, Amazon got its start as an online bookstore) – plus Amazon 4-star stores that sell home goods and toys, as well as pop-up stores that have appeared in malls and other locations.

The move comes on the heels of Amazon raising its yearly subscription rate for Amazon Prime to $139, from $119.

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Amazon said it will instead concentrate on its core grocery stores (including Amazon Fresh locations and the Whole Foods Chain), plus Amazon Style, a new, high-tech, high-fashion brick-and-mortar store from Amazon. The first Amazon Style store, which will feature clothing, shoes and accessories for men and women, will open in Los Angeles later this year. You can check out the concept on this video from Amazon.

Disappearing along with Amazon bookstores are Amazon 4-Star stores, a concept that sold home goods, electronics, toys and other goods that got top customer reviews – hence, 4-star.

Reuters was first to report news of Amazon shuttering its stores. The company said the store closing will occur on various dates. Physical stores account for only 3% of Amazon’s recent quarterly sales of $137 billion, and the majority of that 3% was from Amazon’s Whole Foods supermarkets, according to Reuters.