Amazon is transforming Whole Foods into a tech store

• Amazon is opening pop-ups shops inside Whole Foods stores.
• The shops are selling Amazon devices like the Echo, Kindle, Fire TV, and Fire tablets.
• In the week leading up to Black Friday, Whole Foods will offer $20 off the Echo Dot, $20 off the new Amazon Echo, and $30 off the Kindle Paperwhite, among other deals.
• The shops are a sign that Amazon is planning to ramp up its presence in the grocery chain's stores.

Amazon is launching tech-focused pop-up shops inside Whole Foods stores.

The stores display the e-commerce giant's devices like its Echo smart speakers, Kindle readers, and Fire tablets.

They occupy about 300-500 square feet of Whole Foods' store space and they are staffed by Amazon employees, according to Ed Yruma, managing director at KeyBanc Capital Markets, who recently visited one of the pop-up shops.

"Amazon pop-ups are focused on helping consumers understand and purchase Amazon devices," Yruma wrote in a recent note to clients.

It makes sense to bring these devices into the hands of Whole Foods shoppers ahead of the holiday season, he said.

In the week leading up to Black Friday, Whole Foods will offer $20 off the Echo Dot, $20 off the new Amazon Echo, and $30 off the Kindle Paperwhite, among other deals.

The pop-up shops are a sign that Amazon is planning to ramp up its presence in Whole Foods stores since its $13 billion acquisition of the grocery chain this year, Yruma said.

So far, the shops are in five Whole Foods locations: Chicago; Rochester Hills, Michigan; Davie, Florida; Pasadena, California; and Denver.

Amazon will likely expand the pop-ups across more stores and start selling its devices in about 470 Whole Foods stores nationwide within the next 12-18 months, according to Yruma.

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