Back in the 1920s, catalog retail giant Sears opened massive spaces in major cities that served as combination retail stores and regional distribution centers for catalog goods. These centers closed in the ’80s and ’90s, but now online retail giant Amazon.com is following the same pattern in a tiny way, opening a combination retail store and pick-up center in New York City, across the street from the Empire State Building.

How big will it be? What can you buy there? If you place an order from your smartphone while standing inside the store, how long would it take to get in-store pickup? We don’t know these details yet. What we do know is what mysterious “people familiar with the plans” have told the Wall Street Journal that the retail location will have limited inventory to fill same-day delivery requests in New York, and customers could also pick up their orders. They can also return unwanted items.

It sounds like there won’t be much in terms of retail displays, but the store would be about selling the Amazon brand, not necessarily the mind-boggling array of products available from the site. We think. Of course, the Amazon brand of the future is about selling Kindle tablets, which will be available for customers to play with.

Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Site [Wall Street Journal]

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