Is Amazon is planning a brick-and-mortar bookstore in L.A.?
Amazon, the online mega-retailer, may have its sights set on Los Angeles as the location for another of its brick-and-mortar bookstores.
Local real estate brokers say the company has been scouting locations for a possible L.A. bookstore, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. Amazon had no comment.
Amazon has four brick-and-mortar retail stores across the country, in San Diego, Seattle, Tigard, Ore., and Dedham, Mass.
“We have been evaluating the Southern California market for a little over a year,” said Steve McClurkin, a San Diego leasing broker who has worked with Amazon on its physical bookstores. The San Diego store was Amazon’s second location.
The company has announced plans to open stores in Chicago; New York; Walnut Creek, Calif.; Paramus, N.J.; Lynnfield, Mass., and Bellevue, Wash.
The stores are mostly focused on books, but also sell Amazon’s line of consumer electronics, including its Kindle e-readers and Fire TV streaming media players.
Sources told the Los Angeles Business Journal that Amazon was looking at several neighborhoods for a possible L.A. store, including Melrose Avenue, Pasadena, Century City and Westwood.
The possible Century City location would follow a pattern for Amazon. The company’s San Diego store and its planned Paramus store are in shopping centers owned by the Westfield Corp., which owns a large mall in the neighborhood with tenants such as the Apple Store, H&M and Tiffany & Co.
Pasadena is also home to independent bookstore Vroman’s, which was founded in 1894. Few Los Angeles businesses have such a long history.
Amazon has a frosty relationship with indie booksellers, with some charging that the online retailer’s aggressive business practices have contributed to the decline of independent bookstores across the country.
The company’s most recent brick-and-mortar store, in Dedham, opened in February.
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