For years there was speculation that the American internet retailer Amazon could also compete with German booksellers with its own bookstores. This seems to have settled. Because now the group has surprisingly announced that it will close its physical bookstores. According to Amazon, it currently operates 24 such bookstores in the United States, the first of which opened in Seattle in 2015. The company wants to focus more on grocery stores and a department store concept in the future, as Amazon announced. The “4-Star” chain, which currently has 35 stores, including two in Great Britain, is also to close, where Amazon sells products with particularly good customer ratings. Amazon recently generated only about three percent of total sales with its physical stores, primarily in the Whole Foods grocery stores that the group acquired in 2017.
Book trade – Amazon closes its bookstores – economy
