Amazon.com, the world’s largest ecommerce retailer, is expanding its brick-and-mortar footprint in Los Angeles County with a first-ever clothing boutique in Glendale and another grocery store in Whittier.
The Seattle-based company plans to open a new clothing boutique called Amazon Style this year in Glendale, its latest entry into physical retail, according to Bloomberg. It also plans to open a second Amazon grocery outlet in Whittier, the Whittier Daily News reported.
The moves suggest Amazon may be on the march for further growth after attaining dominance in many categories of online shopping.
Amazon has built up a large brick-and-mortar business since it launched a chain of bookstores, beginning with their debut in 2015 at an upscale mall in Seattle.
It acquired Whole Foods Market in 2017, and opened Amazon Go – a cashierless convenience store that uses cameras and other sensors to track what shoppers take off the shelf – the following year. 2018 also saw the launch of Amazon 4-Star, an electronics, home goods and toys bazaar that sells a variety of its highly rated and bestselling items.
Amazon Fresh, a newly branded grocery chain, opened its doors in 2020 with more than a dozen new markets in Los Angeles.
Amazon.com may also delve into opening discount retail stores with a blend of home goods, electronics and unsold items languishing in Amazon’s warehouses, according to Bloomberg.
The new clothing boutique, to open at Rick Caruso’s The Americana at Brand, would feature women’s and men’s apparel, shoes and accessories.
But unlike traditional clothing stores, Amazon Style would employ artificial intelligence to recommend duds to customers while they browse through the racks. The high tech would follow into the fitting room.
“Using the Amazon Shopping app, customers can send items to a fitting room, where they can use a touchscreen to browse more options, rate items, and request more sizes or styles that are delivered directly to their room within minutes,” Amazon said in a statement.
A second Amazon store will also open in Whittier, only the new grocery outlet will be the size of a large convenience store, according to the Whittier newspaper.
The Whittier Planning Commission has approved a 4,038-square-foot “small format retail market” on the site of now-closed Stereo Super Stores at 14249 Whittier Blvd.
An Amazon Fresh supermarket opened a year ago at the site of a former Orchard Supply Hardware store. Plans for a second market appear the size of an Amazon Go.
[Bloomberg, Whittier Daily News] – Dana Bartholomew
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