Amazon Books marks the entrance to University Village, a luxury outdoor shopping mall in Seattle, Washington.
Doors opened at 9:30 a.m. sharp on Tuesday morning.
A line ran out the door for hours.
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At first glance, Amazon Books seems like any ordinary bookstore.
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdBut upon closer inspection, some things are off. The books face outwards, rather than being stacked so just the spine peeps out.
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New Republic's Dustin Kurtz suggests this layout is meant to mimic how books appear on Amazon.com.
Jennifer Cast, vice president of Amazon Books, says the company wanted to better showcase authors' work. "We realized that we felt sorry for the books that were spine out," Cast told The Seattle Times.
Small placards give a book's average star rating along with short reviews, credited to Amazon account screen names.
Even Jeff Bezos gets in on the action. "A page-turner written by an award-winning novelist, who happens to be my wife," he says of "Traps" by MacKenzie Bezos.
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdCustomers can use the Amazon Shopping app on their phones to scan the placard's bar code, revealing price and other information about the book.
Prices in store match prices online. According to New Republic, the books sell for up to 30% cheaper than what competing bookstores can offer.
Amazon digs through its treasure trove of data in order to figure out what titles are most likely to fly off shelves in Seattle.
Categories of books include highest rated and "most wished-for" by Amazon.com customers.
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Source: The Seattle Times
It's data with heart," Cast tells The Seattle Times. "We're taking the data we have and we're creating physical places with it.
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Source: The Seattle Times
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdStill, it's clear Amazon Books has strong ties to digital.
Employees are on hand to demo Amazon's Fire tablet. There are outlets galore.
To see a book's cost, you have to carry it to a price-checking station or an Amazon employee with a scanner in hand.
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Some customers are complaining about the extra steps to find out a book's price. It's as if Amazon is forcing you to embrace tech.
Of course, customers also check out using a tablet, though it's unclear from photos whether it's an Amazon Fire.
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdCast hints there may be more Amazon Books stores in the future, saying, "We hope this is not our only one."
Amazon Books looks to give indie bookstores a run for their money — again.
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