Amazon Plans to Open Large Retail Locations Akin to Department Stores

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

WSJ NEWS EXCLUSIVE| BUSINESS

Amazon Plans to Open Large Retail Locations Akin to Department Stores

Online shopping pioneer wants a larger retail presence to sell clothing and household items and facilitate exchanges

By Sebastian Herrera, Esther Fung and Suzanne Kapner

https://twitter.com/sebasaherrera
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https://twitter.com/estherfung
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Aug. 19, 2021 7:00 am ET

Amazon.com Inc. plans to open several large physical retail locations in the U.S. that will operate akin to department stores, a step to help the tech company extend its reach in sales of clothing, household items, electronics and other areas, people familiar with the matter said.

The plan to launch large stores will mark a new expansion for the online-shopping pioneer into bricks-and-mortar retail, an area Amazon has long disrupted.

Some of the first Amazon department stores are expected to be located in Ohio and California, the people said. The new retail spaces will be around 30,000 square feet, smaller than most department stores, which typically occupy about 100,000 square feet, and will offer items from top consumer brands. The Amazon stores will dwarf many of the company’s other physical retail spaces and will have a footprint similar to scaled-down formats that Bloomingdale’s Inc., Nordstrom Inc. and other department-store chains have begun opening, the people said.

It is unclear what brands Amazon will offer in the stores, although the company’s private-label goods are expected to feature prominently, the people said. Amazon sells scores of products including clothes, furniture, batteries and electronic devices through many of its own labels. The plans aren’t yet final and could change, these people said.

Amazon’s plans represent an evolution in the company’s efforts to move into bricks-and-mortar retail after years of taking market share from big-box operators—moves that helped to push many into bankruptcy. The company’s growth in online shopping helped accelerate the fall of mall operators and other once-potent physical-store empires. Amazon is now the largest seller of clothing in the U.S., surpassing Walmart Inc., according to Wells Fargo & Co.

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Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-retail-department-stores-11629330842

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Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

WSJ: Amazon To Open Meatspace Department Stores
August 19, 2021

https://www.joemygod.com/2021/08/wsj-amazon-to-open-meatspace-department-stores/

[IronLionZion]

1. Retail space is probably cheap now

from all the department stores that Amazon put out of business

[Dream Girl]

2. Amazon branded clothing is excellent quality for the price.

[Hekate]

23. Tell me more: I didn't know there was such a thing...

For years I got hubby’s clothes at Costco (he’s a very basic dresser, and won't do his own shopping) but their product lines changed. They are unequalled for their return policy, tho.

Anyway, I am looking for a new haberdashery, with a return policy like Costco!

[Lemon Lyman]

3. Interesting

Just the other day I googled "Target" to get the local store telephone #. On my way to finding the # I saw a recent news article from Financial Times about how Target defied investors expectations by doing the opposite of what "experts" said they should years ago.

https://www.ft.com/content/4029a256-9653-4859-b5da-4e4c0ad22c52

Basically the prevailing wisdom at the time was that all retailers should be more like Amazon and focus on warehouses instead of putting $$ into their retail locations. Target brought in the head of Sam's Club to run the show, and they went the other route. They invested in their stores...added space...made sure the stores were clean and well lit.

Over that span of a few years (esp lately) other stores have seen sagging sales while Target's sales #'s have gone up. Another positive thing they did was spend more on store pickup. It used to account for 5% of their sales. Now it's more like 30%.

Personally I think Target's store pickup and Sam's Club's store pickup are far and away the best. My local grocery chain, Hy-Vee, isn't great. Walmart is terrible. If I order $300 worth of stuff for pickup at Walmart and set it to not allow substitutions, I'm usually lucky to get about half of the stuff I ordered (this is in the Dubuque, IA and Davenport, IA area). Trader Joe's and Costco still don't offer it, although Costco started test marketing it in New Mexico this past January. I LOVE this way of shopping, esp during the pandemic. I don't have to be around maskholes. I can sit on my butt in my living room and do all my shopping. Someone else gathers it all and loads into my car for free. I miss seeing what stores have, especially Costco and Sam's Club. But I don't miss it enough to be around people during the pandemic.

[hauckeye]

4. Our nearest Target here in Racine is undergoing a massive remodeling- must be doing well

[Lemon Lyman]

5. Cool!

The Dubuque location did a big remodel 10 years ago or so. It was stupid IMO. They should've moved from their current location out to the Northwest Arterial area (or some other area with lots of space) and built a SuperTarget.

Dubuque, IA (which is Eastern IA) is way too big for its britches, shopping-wise. By that I mean there are way too many people (from the Dubuque area, Eastern Illinois area, Southwestern Wisconsin area) and not enough stores. So the stores that exist...the dinky'ish Target...the 1 big Walmart...so and and so forth -- they're just way too busy and can't keep up with the local demand. Although 15-20 years ago the residents of this area, myself included, shat on and shut down the prospect of a 2nd Walmart in Dubuque. Kind of regretting that now.

[OnlinePoker]

6. It's too bad they screwed up so badly with their Canadian operations

Didn't know the market. Didn't have a supply chain that could work. The only choices for a lot of stuff here in BC are The Bay (higher end), Walmart (lower end) and specialty retail chains that cost an arm and a leg.

[greenjar_01]

7. LOL

[ibegurpard]

8. It's the Walmart business model

Decimate existing retail then swoop in and backfill and monopolize for resulting demand.

[twodogsbarking]

9. The Sears business model.

Sorta.

[modrepub]

10. Yup, Full Circle

They beat the originator of remote shopping. Talking about the Sears Catalog, which I spent many hours perusing in my child and early teen years.

[Lemon Lyman]

14. :-)

Yeah, that was fun. As a kid I always wanted one of their toy cars you can drive around.

[csziggy]

16. I wanted a pony out of the Sears catalog

Yep, they used to sell ponies through their "mail order" service!

[Hekate]

25. In my grandparents' day they used to sell assemble-it-yourself houses!

Sears was once the Catalog King.

[csziggy]

26. Yes, I've seen a few of those here in Tallahassee!

Since the designs were very standard, once you know them, they are easy to spot.

I think the idea is pretty cool and they were very affordable (for middle class families) back then.

Sears Is Fading, But Memories Of Its Mail-Order Homes Endure

October 20, 201810:01 AM ET

>>>>>>>>>>

Sears, once America's largest retailer, was just one company that sold homes this way. Now that its parent company has filed for bankruptcy, owners of some of those homes are lamenting the end of the Sears era.

"You realize you live in an example of what Sears was able to accomplish back in the day when they were the biggest catalog seller in the country," says Andrew Mutch, who owns a Sears home outside Detroit.

In its first catalog in 1888, Sears sold watches and jewelry. The catalogs proved to be popular, and over time different products were added and tested — including houses.

The Sears Modern Homes catalog debuted in 1908, and it offered all the material and blueprints needed to build a house. The pieces that arrived in the mail were meant to fit together sort of like Legos, so buyers could build the houses themselves or hire contractors.

More: https://www.npr.org/2018/10/20/657770791/sears-is-fading-but-memories-of-its-mail-order-homes-endure

In that article there is a link to the Sears Home Catalog, with images of the houses from various periods: http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/byimage.htm

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Every Exec From Sears, 1988-2010...

...should be required to refund every penny of compensation.
They were Amazon before there was an Amazon.
They had an early ISP & data exchange platform, a customer base with 9 decades of buying without touching, & a distribution network of massive proportions.
They quit doing catalogs, sold off name brands, and lowered the quailty of apparel.
They were all incompetent buffoons who ruined a once great company.
With a mere modicum of vizion, they would be the world's largest company.
But, no!

[twodogsbarking]

18. They were a bank too. Credit anyone?

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Should Have Included That

You're absolutely correct.

[yaesu]

11. Oh, this is YUGE! I can't wait

to take one of those coin operated rocket rides!

[malthaussen]

12. I think this is a bad idea.

Department stores are dead.

-- Mal

[ruet]

13. So Amazon Had Huge Hand in Devastating B&M Retail,...

now they get to come in and set up their own shops amid the ruins? The DOJ Antitrust Division should be keeping a close eye on this.

[PoliticAverse]

17. And so the end begins. n/t

[Midnight Writer]

19. Talked to a Postal Worker last week who said he basically works for Amazon

He said all the bulk mail and first class mail is drying up, and that most of the day he is handling Amazon packages. He says the emphasis from management is Keep Amazon Happy.

Someday I reckon we will all work for Amazon, in one way or another.

[FakeNoose]

21. I'm not sure how I feel about this, so I'm going to wait and see

It seems like a step backward, but maybe not.

[Deminpenn]

22. Having brick and mortar locations will allow

Amazon to cut down on its delivery costs. They won't have to have a fleet of trucks out 24/7 delivering packages. Stock can all go to one location at one time. It will probably cut down on returns, too, as people can see what they're buying and judge the workmanship and quality.

Getting what you want today beats getting it the next day, too.

[VarryOn]

24. I'm thankful Bezos is one of us. He could have been a conservative. Nt