Retail Disruptor Amazon Decides It’s Time to Start a Brick-and-Mortar Store

The company that started as an online bookstore and that has since grown into a retail giant that sells pretty much everything is considering a throwback play of sorts in the form of a brick-and-mortar retail store concept.

Amazon may be known for online shopping but it might change that perception in the near future and the implications for photography gear are pretty huge. For one, there’s an increasingly shrinking channel of retailers out there that can sell official equipment and, two, some of us just don’t like buying (and returning) stuff that costs thousands of dollars online. After all, we’ve covered more than our fair share of stories where a buyer is scammed into purchasing a literal box of rocks, an outdated camera model marketed as a newer one or received a broken product.

PetaPixel reports that the first two locations for this store concept are likely to be in California and Ohio. And don’t get your hopes up for some kind of Walmart-style super center. The first Amazon stores will be slightly larger than your typical drug store at 30,000 square feet the website reports.

In many ways, the new Amazon stores sound a lot like Apple’s retail concept which largely serves as a nexus between customers and the company’s larger ecosystem of products. If that is the case, we expect it would probably focus on higher-end products like camera gear and, as such, isn’t likely to be a go-to place for small items. Of course, none of this is good news for the few camera retailers left out there that are already struggling to maintain a footing in a fast-changing retail environment.

Do you use Amazon for any of your photography-related purchases? Would a physical store be a benefit? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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[PetaPixel]