Amazon to close all its brick-and-mortar bookstores in U.S. and UK

Amazon is closing all its bookstores, as well as its 4-star stores and emerging locations, as the online retail giant reprocesses its physical footprint.

The Seattle-based company said Wednesday that the move, which affects 66 stores in the US and two in the UK, will allow it to focus its efforts on Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, the convenience idea called Amazon Go and the upcoming Amazon. Style shops. Amazon Style, which will sell fashion and accessories, is is going to open in a Southern California mall later this year.

The store, which will sell women’s and men’s clothing, as well as shoes and other accessories, will open at Americana at Brand in Glendale.

Shoppers will receive personalized offers on their phones as they browse the new Amazon Style store, which is stocked primarily with fashion labels outside of Amazon, the company said.

“We remain committed to creating exceptional, long-term physical experiences and retail technologies and work closely with our affected employees to help them find new roles at Amazon,” the company said in a statement.

It was not immediately possible to find out how many Amazon employees are affected.

Amazon opened its first bookstore in 2015, two decades after it started selling books online and helped close many traditional bookstores. Amazon’s 4-star stores, which debuted in 2018, have a limited selection of top-selling products from top categories sold by Amazon.com, including consumer electronics, toys and games.

The move comes as Amazon.com Inc Overall revenue growth is slowing as a result of supply chain bottlenecks and labor shortages, and is looking for new ways to rekindle sales.

Amazon also increases its annual US subscription fee to $ 139 per year from $ 119. This is the first price increase for the Prime subscription since 2018.

Neil Saunders, CEO of GlobalData Retail, said the bookstore strategy was a surprise. He said he believes it is a recognition that bookstores did not deliver the returns Amazon was looking for.

Saunders said he believes the main problem with Amazon’s non-food stores is that they had no real purpose, even though the merchandise was well presented.

“They were designed for people to come in and explore, not as destinations where people would go on a mission to buy something,” he wrote in a note Wednesday. Ultimately, he added, this was not good for increasing customer traffic, especially at a time when people are less likely to visit stores.

The other problem is the variety of retail, Saunders said, describing it as disconnected and out of focus in many locations.