Amazon set to open a physical store: WSJ

Bangalore/San Francisco: Amazon.com Inc., the online juggernaut whose rapid expansion helped derail many a brick-and-mortar retail chain, may soon open its first physical store, at a prime site in Midtown Manhattan, according to The Wall Street Journal. Amazon plans to open its first full-fledged store across from the Empire State Building, at 7 West 34th Street, the Journal reported. The store, which is expected to open in time for the holiday shopping season, may also display Amazon’s proprietary products, such as its Kindle line of e-readers and tablets, Fire smartphones and video-streaming boxes. In recent years however, chief executive Jeff Bezos has led a number of initiatives that have mandated a physical presence in cities: lockers that temporarily hold customer purchases, for example, and a rapid expansion of grocery and same-day delivery that has often meant maintaining some sort of local distribution center.