I went to Amazon's new Style store, where algorithms pick your outfits. I never want to shop normally again.
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Fortesa Latifi.
- Amazon recently opened a brick-and-mortar store in Los Angeles called "Amazon Style."
- Customers can do pretty much everything from their phones, and an algorithm helps feed outfit choices to dressing rooms.
Amazon recently opened a brick-and-mortar clothing store in Los Angeles, where customers can do pretty much everything from their phone.
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That includes ordering items to fitting rooms.
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The new Amazon Style store is the behemoth retailer's first foyer into brick-and-mortar clothing stores.
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It looks like a cross between Urban Outfitters and an Apple store.
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When I entered the store, I was greeted by cheerful employees.
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It was like if Trader Joe's employees were selling you clothes.
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They asked if I'd been to the store before. When I said I hadn't, they explained how the shopping experience worked.
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The gist is this: There are no sizes available on the showroom floor.
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If you want to try something on, instead of the usual act of schlepping through sizes to find yours, you just scan the QR code attached to the clothing item.
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When you scan the code, an Amazon link pops up on your phone and takes you to the online store.
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You simply add your size to a dressing room, then the app alerts you when the room is ready for you.
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I went to the store with my 18-year-old sister (it's probably not a coincidence that this is the first story she's joined me on).
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A few times, she turned to me and said: "I feel like we're in the future."
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We were both expecting the store to be full of fast-casual Amazon-brand clothing, but that wasn't our experience at all.
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There were bright, cheerful displays advertising different clothing vibes.
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“CASUAL DRESSES,” read one sign.
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"Y2K," read another.
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"Hi, that's for me," my Gen Z sister said. She promptly walked away from me and toward it.
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As we wove our way through the women's section, I was surprised at just how many different styles of clothes were available.
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There were dresses, jackets, jeans, and shirts.
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In the middle of the women's section was a large display advertising "influencer looks."
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The displays had specific QR codes that would take you to that influencer's favorite Amazon-supplied clothing.
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I didn't know who the influencers were. Neither did my sister, but their choices were cute.
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The whole experience was wildly sleek. I decided to try something on to get the full vibe.
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I scanned the QR code attached to the jean jacket I wanted to try on and chose my size.
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The Amazon app asked me if I needed an accessible fitting room and what gender clothing I most wore.
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Then, it informed me that there would be more items waiting in the fitting room that they thought I would like.
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(Who is "they"? The algorithm is powerful.)
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I locked my phone and kept browsing, but I wasn't totally sure how I'd know when the fitting room was ready.
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Did I need to go up to talk to an attendant? That felt unlikely.
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Did I need to keep checking the app? I wasn't sure.
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I checked every few minutes, until 10 minutes later, it said my fitting room was ready.
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It gave me the option to go to the fitting room then or in 10 minutes, presumably to allow more shopping time.
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I chose "now."
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I beckoned my sister, and we went upstairs to the second set of fitting rooms.
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There was a kind of waiting room, presumably for people waiting for their friends to be done shopping.
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It was decorated almost like an Anthropologie store, with different-sized mirrors, magazines, and botanic wallpaper.
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I walked to the room assigned to me and pressed “unlock your room.”
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That's the only moment when the whole sleek experience got a little clumsy.
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There isn't very good cellular service in the Glendale Galleria, and my phone was struggling to connect enough to unlock the door.
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After waiting a minute or two, my sister suggested I look for an Amazon WiFi connection, which I did.
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It required joining an “unprotected” WiFi network, but it solved the problem quickly. The door was soon unlocked.
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The fitting room was spacious and had a screen welcoming me in. "GET STARTED!" urged the touchscreen.
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On the left side of the room was a rack with the jacket I’d chosen (and three others the algorithm thought I might like).
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Through the touchscreen, I chose another sweatshirt and requested it to be delivered to my fitting room.
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Then things got really futuristic — or maybe my sister and I were just easily impressed.
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On the far side of the fitting room was a closet.
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When you order something else to try on while you're already in the fitting room, an employee delivers the article of clothing through the other door of the closet.
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While they're in the closet arranging the clothing on a clothing rack, a red light is illuminated to alert you.
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When they're done, the red light turns off and the closet is illuminated from the inside, as if to lure you. It succeeded.
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Also, we were really impressed by how quickly the sweater came. It couldn’t have been more than 90 seconds after I requested it.
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It did feel weird standing on the other side of the closet as some unseen employee arranged clothing, though.
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When you're finished trying on clothes, you take what you want and leave the rest in the dressing room.
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Downstairs, on the first floor, there's a normal checkout process. It's as if you're in a usual clothing store and not the year 2045.
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When we went to another store, my sister turned to me and said: “Is it weird I want all the stores to be like the Amazon store now?”
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To me, it wasn't weird at all.
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