They just opened one near me (La Jolla, CA). It is nice, but it looks pretty much like you’d expect a bookstore to look. According to a friendly member of the staff, “most” books are list price…
So… is there any reason to think Amazon will succeed with a brick & mortar store where so many others apparently could not?
From what I’ve read, the books are loss leaders in a sense. They aren’t expected to bring in enough money to justify keeping the place open.
They want people to come in and learn all about the Wonderful And Exciting Amazon Products!!! E.g., Kindles, Fire Tablets, Amazon Fire TV, etc. But even those lose money for the low end models. The real money comes from content people will buy for them.
Some people are hesitant to buy something without first seeing it themselves, trying it out, getting some answers from a sales critter.
Note that in this case the old look-at-it-at-a-real-store-and-buy-online thing is still a win for Amazon.
People who read books are a good target demo for all this.
Most of post #2 combined with the clout Amazon has with publishers/distributors getting them a better price than most sellers. Even major players like a B&N and similar bookstores.
Interesting that most books are list price, since it seems like a lot of books on the website are below list price. I guess it’s really just like a showroom for their books and devices. For people who pick up and look at Gone Girl 2 and can’t wait to read it they’ll pay the list price and take it home that day. But other people will see it at the store, but wait to get home and order it for under list price and also maybe order another book or two. And like ftg said, some people will play with the devices and either buy one there or later.