Amazon basically owns the internet, but they still can't quite figure out the sidewalk. It’s a weird paradox. You’d think a company that knows exactly which brand of dish soap you buy every three weeks would be able to run a physical shop blindfolded. Yet, the history of the Amazon brick and mortar store is a messy, fascinating trail of abandoned concepts and sudden pivots. They've shut down bookstores. They've killed off "4-star" shops. They even walked away from several of their own branded clothing boutiques.
It’s not for lack of trying.
The retail giant has spent billions trying to translate digital dominance into physical footprints. Look at the 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. That wasn't just about organic kale; it was about buying 500+ distribution hubs disguised as grocery stores. But even with that massive head start, the experience of walking into an Amazon-branded physical space still feels a bit like an experiment that hasn't quite reached its final form.
The Identity Crisis of the Physical Aisle
Most people remember the Amazon Books era. Those stores were everywhere for a minute. They had those little cards under the books showing the online rating and a snippet of a review. It felt smart at first. Then you realized you were basically walking through a physical manifestation of a website filter, and it felt... sterile. By 2022, they pulled the plug on all 68 of their non-grocery physical stores, including the Amazon 4-star locations.
Why? Because retail is hard. Honestly, it’s much harder than logistics.
In a digital store, you have infinite shelf space. In an Amazon brick and mortar store, every square inch costs money in rent, electricity, and labor. If a product doesn't move in 48 hours, it's a liability. Amazon's data-driven approach works wonders when they’re suggesting a pair of socks based on your past three years of browsing history, but it struggles to replicate the "treasure hunt" vibe that makes places like TJ Maxx or even a local boutique successful. People don't go to physical stores just to find exactly what they need—they go to see things they didn't know they wanted. Amazon’s algorithms are great at the "need," but kinda "meh" at the "discovery."
Just Walk Out: Tech vs. Reality
Then there’s the tech. Amazon Go was supposed to be the future. The "Just Walk Out" technology used a complex array of cameras and pressure sensors on shelves to track what you picked up. You’d scan your palm or a QR code, grab a sandwich, and just leave. No lines. No cashiers.
It felt like magic.
But behind the curtain, it was incredibly expensive to maintain. In early 2024, news broke that Amazon was moving away from Just Walk Out in its larger Fresh grocery stores, opting instead for "Dash Carts." These are smart shopping carts with built-in scanners and screens. It turns out that while consumers hate lines, they also want to see their total in real-time. They don't want a receipt emailed to them four hours later realizing they were overcharged for a banana. Plus, the infrastructure required for Just Walk Out was reportedly being "supplemented" by a massive team of human reviewers in India who were double-checking the video feeds to ensure accuracy. Not exactly the AI-powered utopia we were promised.
Whole Foods and the Grocery Gambit
You can’t talk about the Amazon brick and mortar store presence without talking about Whole Foods. This is where Amazon is actually winning, even if it doesn't always feel like an "Amazon" store. They’ve integrated Prime discounts, allowed for easy returns of those impulse-buy air fryers at the customer service desk, and turned the backrooms into staging areas for delivery drivers.
💡 You might also like: Is Nordstrom Going Out of Business? What Really Happened with the Department Store Giant
It changed the industry. Suddenly, Walmart and Kroger had to scramble to match the "order online, pick up in-store" (BOPIS) efficiency that Amazon perfected.
But there’s a tension there. Whole Foods shoppers often liked the "hippy-dippy" vibe of the original brand. When Amazon took over, things got more standardized. Some argue the soul of the store was traded for logistical efficiency. Yet, from a business perspective, Whole Foods provides the one thing Amazon craves most: high-frequency data. You buy books once a month. You buy electronics once a year. You buy groceries twice a week. That data is gold.
The Fashion Experiment: Amazon Style
Amazon Style was their attempt at high-tech clothing retail. One opened in Glendale, California, and another in Columbus, Ohio. The gimmick was that the floor only had one of each item. You’d scan a code, and a robot/human team would put your size in a fitting room. You’d walk into the room, and there’d be a touchscreen to ask for more sizes.
It was cool. It was different. It’s also now closed.
The company shuttered these locations in late 2023. It turns out that when people shop for clothes, they like the messy tactile experience of digging through a rack. They want to touch the fabric before they even think about a fitting room. By digitizing the "browsing" part of the experience, Amazon removed the tactile joy of shopping.
What the Data Actually Tells Us
If you look at the numbers, physical retail still accounts for about 80% of all commerce in the U.S. That is a massive pie that Amazon cannot ignore. Their strategy now seems to be focusing on "essentials" rather than "discretionary" items.
🔗 Read more: Sam the Glazier Brooklyn: Why This Shop Still Matters in the Neighborhood
- Amazon Go is sticking around in high-density urban areas for quick snacks.
- Amazon Fresh is being redesigned to feel more like a traditional supermarket with better lighting and "softer" branding.
- Whole Foods continues to expand into smaller formats like the "Whole Foods Market Daily Shop" in Manhattan.
They’ve realized that being a "tech company that does retail" isn't as good as being a "retailer that uses tech." It’s a subtle but massive shift in philosophy.
Tony Hoggett, Amazon’s Senior VP of Worldwide Grocery Stores (who came over from Tesco), has been the one leading this charge. He’s been trying to move the company away from the "lab experiment" feel and toward a "shop I actually want to visit on a Tuesday night" feel. This means more traditional checkout lanes alongside the fancy tech. It means focusing on the quality of the produce rather than the number of cameras in the ceiling.
The Logistics of the Returns Desk
The most successful part of the Amazon brick and mortar store ecosystem isn't even the selling—it’s the returning.
Think about it. You go to a Kohl's, a Whole Foods, or a UPS Store to drop off a return. You don't need a box. You don't need a label. You just show a QR code. This brings people through the doors. Once you're inside a Whole Foods to drop off a defective charging cable, you’re probably going to buy a rotisserie chicken.
This "halo effect" is the real secret sauce. Physical stores act as a giant, expensive marketing funnel for the website. Even if the store itself barely breaks even, the increase in "Prime Stickiness" makes it worth the investment.
Why Most People Get It Wrong
People think Amazon is failing in retail because they keep closing stores. I'd argue the opposite. Amazon treats physical stores like software—they beta test, they find the bugs, and if the code is fundamentally broken, they delete the repository and start over.
Most traditional retailers (like Macy’s or Sears) died because they couldn't stop doing what they'd always done. Amazon has no sentimentality. They will open a store today and burn it down tomorrow if the data says it’s not working. That’s terrifying for employees, but it’s why they remain a threat to everyone from Walmart to the local corner bodega.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Shopper
If you're trying to make sense of the Amazon physical landscape, here is how you actually use it to your advantage:
- The Return Hack: Use the Amazon app to find "No-Box, No-Label" return points. It saves you roughly $5-$10 in packaging materials and a whole lot of tape-related frustration. Whole Foods locations are usually the fastest for this.
- Prime Member Deals: In physical stores (Fresh and Whole Foods), you have to scan your "In-Store Code" in the Amazon app to get the sale prices. If you don't scan, you’re literally throwing money away. Look for the yellow and blue signs.
- The "Dash Cart" Strategy: If you hate waiting in line but find the "Just Walk Out" tech creepy, look for the Dash Carts. They let you track your budget as you shop, which is actually a better "feature" than the checkout-free tech anyway.
- Check the Hub: Many Amazon physical locations have lockers. If you live in an apartment where porch pirates are a problem, routing your high-value deliveries to an Amazon brick and mortar store locker is the only way to guarantee you actually get your package.
The future of Amazon's physical presence isn't going to look like a sci-fi movie anymore. It's going to look like a really, really efficient grocery store. They’ve learned that humans don't want to shop in a vending machine; they want to shop in a store that just happens to know what they like. It took them a decade and a few billion dollars to realize that, but they’re finally getting the hint.
Keep an eye on the "Amazon Fresh" redesigns hitting the suburbs right now. That’s the real blueprint for where this is all going. Less "look at our cool sensors" and more "look at our fresh bread." It’s a pivot back to basics, powered by a massive amount of back-end data. If you’re a competitor, that’s actually much scarier than a few cameras in the ceiling.