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

Amazon is closing all of its brick-and-mortar bookstores, as well as its 4-star stores and pop-up locations, while the online retail giant is reworking its physical footprint.

The Seattle-based company said on Wednesday that the measure, which affects 66 stores in the United States and two in the United Kingdom, will allow it to focus its efforts on Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, its convenience concept called Amazon Go and the your next Amazon. Style shops. Amazon Style, which sells fashion and accessories, is will open in Southern California mall later this year.

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

Shoppers will receive personalized recommendations on their phones as they browse the new Amazon Style store, which is primarily covered with non-Amazon fashion labels, the company said.

“We remain committed to creating excellent long-term physical sales experiences and technologies and are working closely with our affected employees to help them find new roles on Amazon,” the company said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear how many Amazon workers were affected.

Amazon opened its first physical bookstore in 2015, two decades after it began selling books online and helped keep many traditional bookstores out of business. Amazon’s 4-star stores, which first debuted in 2018, offer a limited selection of best-selling products from the major categories Amazon.com sells, including consumer electronics, toys and games.

The move comes as from Amazon.com Inc. overall revenue growth is slowing as a result of supply chain problems and labor shortages, and is looking for new ways to revive sales.

Amazon is also increasing its annual lead membership fee in the U.S. to $ 139 a year from $ 119. This is the first price increase for the Prime subscription since 2018.

Neil Saunders, CEO of GlobalData Retail, said the bookstore’s strategy is a surprise. He said he believes it’s an acknowledgment that bookstores weren’t delivering the returns Amazon was looking for.

Saunders said he believes the main problem with Amazon’s non-food stores is that they didn’t have a real purpose even though the merchandise was well-presented.

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

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