Amazon is closing all its Books, 4-Star and pop-up stores

Amazon.com appears committed to operating physical stores, but appears to be optimizing its format strategy. The retail and technology giant is shuttering all of 68 of its Amazon Books, 4-Star and pop-up shops.

Physical stores only made up three percent of Amazon’s revenues in the fourth quarter with almost all of that coming from its Whole Foods business. Reuters, which was the first to report news of the store closings, says that Amazon was never able to generate the types of results with its book, 4-Star and pop-up shops that would warrant further expansion of the concepts. 

Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told the news service that ditching the physical store concepts makes sense as Amazon’s strengths lie elsewhere. “Retail is hard, and they’re discovering that,” he said.

It’s common for legacy retailers that close stores to take a hit online as well, but that doesn’t appear to be a concern for Amazon based on the relatively small scale of the individual concepts and its dominance in the digital sales space.

Amazon expects that shuttering its niche concepts will benefit its other physical retail businesses.

Betsy Harden, an Amazon spokesperson, told The New York Times, that the company will “focus more on our Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Go and Amazon Style stores and our Just Walk Out technology.”

“We remain committed to building great, long-term physical retail experiences and technologies, and we’re working closely with our affected employees to help them find new roles within Amazon,” said Ms. Harden.

The company currently operates more than 500 Whole Foods and is expanding its Amazon Fresh concept, as well. 

There are about two dozen of the Amazon Go concept stores operating and the company is shifting its focus to opening larger stores in suburban locations. Two larger Go stores are currently planned for Mill Creek, WA, and the Los Angeles area. 

The company will also debut Amazon Fashion,  a clothing store concept, later this year. The 30,000-square-foot store will feature men’s and women’s apparel, shoes and accessories. It will open in Glendale, CA, at The Americana at Brand, a large dining, shopping and residential complex that boasts A list retailer tenants including Apple, lululemon, Nike, Nordstrom, Sephora and Tiffany. 

• Amazon to shut its bookstores and other shops as its grocery chain expands – Reuters

• Amazon plans to shut down more than 50 brick-and-mortar stores. – The New York Times

• Amazon Go is going big(ger) in suburban locations – RetailWire

• Amazon says first clothing store will be a fashion and technological revelation – RetailWire