And finally…Amazon opens first (real) bookshop

The new shop has been opened in a shopping centre on the edge of the University of Washington’s campus and the company said it will seek tobuild on Amazon’s online strengths.

After helping to create an age in which shoppers often check their phones for ratings or lower prices, the company said it has filled its first bookstore with titles that have strong online reviews — and it says all the prices will be the same, on the Web or in the store.

“These are fantastic books. Most have been rated 4 stars or above, and many are award winners,” according to a statement from Amazon Books vice president Jennifer Cast announcing Tuesday’s opening.

Unlike large-footprint bookstores like Waterstones, Barnes & Noble or the now-defunct Borders, the new premises takes up about 5,500 square feet — roughly a fifth the size of an average American Barnes & Noble store.

Giving it the look of a traditional bookstore, Amazon Books has hardwood floors and wooden shelves; the children’s book area is carpeted and furnished with cushy chairs.

Nearly all of the books are arranged to show their covers, rather than their spines. Below each book, online reviews are excerpted on cards that include a summary of the title’s rating — the average number of stars, along with the number of reviews.

Elsewhere, books are grouped in ways that might seem familiar to Amazon.com customers who filter their search results: by rating, for example, as well as best-selling or popular pre-order titles.

The Amazon Books store will also incorporate elements that echo the experience of visiting an Apple Store, as it devotes space to letting customers “test drive” Amazon devices such as its Kindle reader, Echo controller and Fire TV.

Asked about other potential retail locations today, an Amazon representative didn’t rule out the possibility that other stores could follow.

The local Seattle Times newspaper noted: “There is some irony in Amazon’s opening a physical store. For years, it could undercut physical retailers on price because it didn’t have brick-and-mortar locations. But those stores offered something Amazon couldn’t: the instant gratification of owning an item the second it was purchased, as well as the personal touch of a knowledgeable sales clerk.”