Amazon pokes around for brick-and-mortar stores in LA

Online retail giant Amazon is scoping out retail space around the Los Angeles area, including in Old Pasadena, Melrose Avenue and Westfield Century City.

The company opened its 10th bookstore in Seattle last week and an Amazon spokesperson confirmed the company is eyeing L.A. next, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported.

Derrick Moore of Avison Young said Amazon had checked out Pasadena for 5,000 to 6,000 square feet several months ago.

Jay Luchs of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank also connected with an Amazon representative over potential spaces on Melrose Avenue between West Hollywood and Fairfax District.

Steve McClurkin, a leasing broker at EB Development in San Diego, represents Amazon’s bookstores.

Retail analyst Joe Schmitt of AlixPartners said part of the company’s brick-and-mortar strategy boils down to collecting consumer data, according to the Business Journal.

“The information they have now online is second to none, but their ability to link that to in-store shopping habits is a hole,” Schmitt said. [LABJ] — Subrina Hudson