Amazon’s opening its first real-world shop… sort of

Not content with ruling the world of online shopping, Amazon will be apparently be opening a decidedly non dot com shop in New York in time for Christmas. The rumoured pop-up store will be at 7 West 34th St, which is opposite the Empire State Building and, as The Mary Sue points out, right next to the famous Macy’s window displays that are a popular tourist attraction in November and December.

But if you’re imagining a wonderful world of books, tech, DVDs, and those random misc items that sometimes pop up in your recommendations, you might not want to book a flight to JFK just yet. The company won’t be attempting to recreate the experience of browsing the site IRL.

Instead, the shop will be more of a warehouse, where New Yorkers can order something online and collect it the same day,  return items, and buy a limited number of items. So… it’ll be Argos, pretty much.

The Next Web says that the aim might be less about providing an additional service to customers than being a place to advertise and sell Kindles, and of course, the Fire Phone, and hints that Amazon might’ve been inspired by the success of the Apple store. If that’s the case, and it succeeds, we could see this kind of warehouse/store on this side of the pond by Christmas 2015. I have to be honest, though: I’m probably still going to do my online shopping at home. It’s warmer there, and there are far fewer queues.

Image by Balajimuthazhagan via Wikimedia Commons.

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