Online Retail Giant Amazon Plans to Open 400 Physical Bookstores

Traditional bookstores could be making a comeback with the help of Amazon, the company that all but decimated the book retail industry.

The online company’s plans to expand into the “real world” of book selling will see the opening of around 400 bookstores, according to several sources.

It seems a logical next step after opening up their first physical retail space last November in Seattle, Wa. Initially deemed a “vanity project,” the store has apparently been successful enough for the site to consider it a legitimate business venture.

The store openings were first reported by The Wall Street Journal yesterday. The newspaper cites Sandeep Mathrani, the chief executive of General Growth Properties, Inc, as the source of the information. Apparently, Mathrani revealed the news during an earnings call for the mall operator on Tuesday.

The popular electronic commerce site’s plans for its brick-and-mortar stores will see the electronic retailer attempting to sell books at the same price currently offered to online buyers. It is unclear which cities will get to experience Amazon’s physical retail shops or how much money they plan to allocate to them.

While anonymous sources inside the company have labeled the reports as “misleading,” when formally asked to deny the claims, those sources were reluctant to speak on-the-record, according to Gizmodo.