Amazon Opens Their First Physical Bookstore

Not content with just ruling the ebook market with its Kindle line, Amazon has opened up its first physical bookstore. Amazon has done physical stores before, but not many, and never a bookstore. And this isn’t temporary, either. The store, situated in Seattle’s University Village, is here to stay.

Here’s the part that’s distinctly Amazon: each book will have a placard in front of it that displays its Amazon rating and a user review. Amazon’s book rankings will also help determine which items the store stocks. Kindle devices will of course be advertised, which is a nice way of saying “now that you’re here, how about you never come here again?”

Call me cantankerous, but I don’t like it. Amazon has played a big part in the destruction of the traditional bookstore, rendering them to an almost niche status, and now they’re trying to revitalize the very thing they tried to wipe from the face of the Earth, scooping up the customers who have been displaced since their favorite bookstores went out of business. I’m all for change and progression and all things Internet, but this is dirty pool.