Amazon reportedly to open first-ever physical store in New York City

[Scientific Playa]

all you nyc fresh gadget boys no longer have to wait ......



Clicks-and-mortar: Amazon reportedly to open first-ever physical store in New York City

The store, to be located at 7 W. 34th St. opposite the Empire State Building, is slated to open in time for the holiday season, offering consumers the chance to buy products online and then pick them up the same day at the store.

BY Katherine Clarke

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, October 9, 2014, 5:08 PM

Online retail giant Amazon has chosen a site in Midtown Manhattan for its first ever bricks-and-mortar store, according to reports.


The store, to be located at 7 W. 34th St. opposite the Empire State Building, is slated to open in time for the holiday season and will have limited inventory available for same-day delivery within the New York area.


The location is likely to display such Amazon-made products as Kindle tablets, the Fire TV and the Fire smartphone.


The deal marks a significant shift in strategy for Amazon, which has placed its focus on online sales.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg A different kind of big box store: Instead of having large cardboard packages sent to their homes, New Yorkers might soon be able to order items from Amazon.com and then pick them up the same day.

But for the first time, the company is looking to connect with consumers in the real world, offering them the chance to buy products online and then pick them up the same day at the store.


“While most brick-and-mortar retailers fear Amazon, Amazon clearly fears them, too,” said retail broker Faith Hope Consolo of Douglas Elliman.


“Click and collect is already huge in Europe, so it makes sense for Amazon to test it here.”

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg So-called click and collect businesses are big in Europe, an analyst says, so it makes sense for Amazon to try it out too.

If the model is successful, Amazon may look to replicate it in other cities.


Other formerly online-only retail brands, such as Microsoft and beauty brand Birchbox, have recently announced plans to open physical locations, with Microsoft inking a deal for a flagship store on New York’s Fifth Ave.


Amazon declined to confirm the deal, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

PropertyShark Online retail giant Amazon's first physical store could soon be here, on W. 34th St. in New York.








http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/10/09/us-amazon-store-idINKCN0HY2BD20141009

 

[Scientific Playa]

Technology

Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Site

The New York City Location to Handle Same-Day-Delivery Inventory, Product Returns

http://online.wsj.com/articles/amazon-to-open-first-store-1412879124?cb=logged0.7617116265464574


Amazon’s first store, set to open in Manhattan, will mark an experiment to connect with customers in the real world. Dan Gallagher discusses on the News Hub. Photo: AP.


Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -2.27% plans to open a store in the middle of New York City, according to people familiar with the plans, the first brick-and-mortar outlet in its 20-year history and an experiment to provide the type of face-to-face experience found at traditional retailers.


The site, set to open in time for the holiday-shopping season on the same busy street as Macy’s Inc. M -2.73% ’s flagship store, would mark an attempt by Amazon to connect with customers in the physical world. Amazon has built its business on competitive pricing and fast shipping. Until now, though, it couldn’t compete with the immediacy of a traditional store.


Amazon’s space at 7 West 34th St., across from the Empire State Building in Midtown, would function as a mini warehouse, with limited inventory for same-day delivery within New York, product returns and exchanges, and pickups of online orders. The Manhattan location is meant primarily to be a place for customers to pick up orders they’ve made online, but will also serve as a distribution center for couriers and likely one day will feature Amazon devices like Kindle e-readers, Fire smartphones and Fire TV set-top boxes, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking.


Opening a physical location is “about marketing the Amazon brand,” said Matt Nemer, a Wells Fargo analyst. “Same-day delivery, ordering online and picking up in store are ideas that are really catching on. Amazon needs to be at the center of that.”


Operating stores also carries risks. Until now, Amazon largely has avoided some costs associated with retailing, including leases, paying employees and managing inventory in hundreds of stores. Those expenses could imperil the company’s already thin profit margins.


Some details about the New York site couldn’t be learned immediately, including the size, length of the lease or amount of inventory that would be housed there. People familiar with the matter cautioned that Amazon’s plans could change, and that the store is an experiment and could be deemed unsuccessful.


If it is successful, however, the New York location could presage a rollout to other U.S. cities, according to the people familiar with the company’s thinking.

The planned site of Amazon’s store, on 34th Street in New York, is set to open in time for the holidays. Keith Bedford for The Wall Street Journal


Amazon has studied opening a brick-and-mortar outlet for years, even scouting locations in its hometown of Seattle about two years ago before scrapping the idea because of insufficient foot traffic, said another person familiar with the effort. Amazon once sold Kindles in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT -0.49% and Target Corp. TGT -1.93% outlets, but those retailers pulled the devices from shelves two years ago in an apparent nod to Amazon’s growing power in retailing.

The 12-story building on 34th Street, owned by Vornado Realty Trust, once housed an Ohrbach’s department store and now has Mango and Express stores at street level. There are two loading docks at the back of the building.


The Amazon store will be in the shadow of the Empire State Building, which last year attracted 4.3 million visitors to its observatory. It is a block east of Herald Square, where Macy’s flagship store draws more than 20 million annual visitors, according to the 34th Street Partnership, a business-improvement district.


“Foot traffic on 34th Street is unparalleled,” said Chase Welles, executive vice president at SCG Retail, a real-estate-service company.


The streetscape of 34th Street has changed dramatically since the 1990s, when it was populated by low-end retailers. Since then, the business-improvement district and area companies have spent about $2 billion on upgrades to the neighborhood and individual properties, according to the 34th Street Partnership. Global and national retailers such as Zara, Uniqlo and Vince Camuto have opened stores on the street.

Vornado Chief Financial Officer Stephen Theriot hailed the 34th Street building on a recent webcast. “As a former department store, it’s got very high ceilings, it’s got big, open floor plates, and that’s the type of property that a lot of the creative class tenants” favor, he said.


Ordering online with the option to pick up in stores has proved popular; retailers including Wal-Mart, Home Depot Inc. HD -1.08% and Macy’s, offer the service. Others employ delivery services such as Google Inc., GOOGL -2.22% eBay Inc. or startup Deliv Inc. to fetch orders from stores, rather than warehouses, and bring them to customers.


Amazon has experimented with physical stores before, including pop-up shops and locations run by subsidiaries. Last November, Kindle-brand pop-ups appeared in U.S. malls, selling e-readers and tablets from vending machines. Its Zappos unit has a store near its Kentucky distribution center and once operated a few outlets in its hometown of Las Vegas; and its Quidsi unit runs a cosmetics store in Manhasset, N.Y.


Amazon also has set up large metal lockers in convenience stores and parking garages around the country, to accommodate deliveries and returns. The lockers don’t offer same-day delivery, however. The lockers have been a popular option, and Amazon has expanded them to a number of cities, including overseas, after initially just offering them in Seattle.

Amazon took some inspiration from a trial by the U.K.’s Home Retail Group HOME.LN -2.30% PLC, allowing customers to order eBay goods online and pick them up in its Argos stores, said one person familiar with Amazon’s thinking. By year’s end Argos expects to provide the service at 650 stores from 65,000 eBay sellers.


Other primarily online retailers have opened physical storefronts, including clothier Bonobos Inc., eyeglasses purveyor Warby Parker, and subscription beauty-products service Birchbox.


New York-based Bonobos opened its first of 10 retail stores in 2011; it plans 40 by 2016, said Chief Executive Andy Dunn. The stores offer limited inventory so customers can determine their size and choose styles and patterns; the merchandise is then shipped to their home from a warehouse, or can be collected later in-store.


Mr. Dunn said customers who order clothing from Bonobos brick-and-mortar stores spend roughly twice as much as online shoppers.


Write to Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com

 

[Liquid]

When I used to work for Amazon so many purple would walk in asking if they can shop.

This was basically inevitable

 

[HookersandIceCream]

We just someone to take Walmart out of business

But needs to stop focusing on Thierry tablets and phones so much. Their kindles are great but they need to stick to what they do best, which is online shopping.

 

[WhatsGoodTy]

And one down here in CT next month

 

[Liquid]

We just someone to take Walmart out of business

But needs to stop focusing on Thierry tablets and phones so much. Their kindles are great but they need to stick to what they do best, which is online shopping.

Amazon treats their low earning employees worse than Wal-Mart treats their employees. If they open their stores it will create the same black hole Wal-Mart does today.

 

[Scientific Playa]

this company is still making moves.

Amazon’s new warehouse in South Florida aims to speed deliveries
By Martha Brannigan

This is the new location that Amazon is leasing as it aims to expedite deliveries at 1900 NW 132nd Place west of Doral.

Just in time for the gift-giving holidays.

Amazon.com launched operations at its new sortation center west of Doral and has been hiring seasonal workers for the peak holiday season.

The new facility, at 1900 NW 132nd Pl., in the far western reaches of Miami-Dade County, opened Oct. 31 and has about 300 employees with a goal of expediting deliveries in densely populated South Florida.

Amazon customers’ orders arriving from fulfillment centers — or giant warehouses — in places such as Tampa are sorted and consolidated by ZIP code for final delivery, according to Amazon spokeswoman Nina Lindsey. Packages then are delivered to the U.S. Postal Service, which makes the deliveries to customers seven days a week.

“Amazon’s sort center network is powering our ability to provide customers with everyday delivery and is the key element enabling Sunday delivery,” Lindsey said.

By year’s end, Amazon expects to have more than 15 sortation centers operating around the country as it implements the new delivery network, she said.

The Beacon Council and others have been working on bringing the company to Miami-Dade for some time. Amazon applied confidentially for up to $150,000 in tax refunds under a Qualified Target Industry program, with 20 percent coming from Miami-Dade and 80 percent from the state, based on job creation and capital investment.

There is a downside for consumers to Amazon’s physical presence in Florida: Since May, amid its plans to open giant warehouses in Tampa and Lakeland, the Internet giant has been required under Florida law to collect state sales tax on customer purchases. Both those facilities are now operating.

The Doral center was built in a fast-growing warehouse area on the fringes of development within 1.5 miles of the Florida Turnpike and the Dolphin Expressway.

KTR Capital Partners built the 335,841-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility on spec and then signed a lease with the Seattle-based e-commerce giant for the entire facility.

KTR is a New York-based real estate private equity fund manager that focuses on industrial property with offices in Miami, among other places.

The new warehouse feature ceilings soaring 36 feet, a sophisticated fire-suppression system, energy-efficient lighting with motion sensors, and an expansive dock.

“It’s a high-tech building,” said Jose I. Juncadella, president of Fairchild Partners Commercial Real Estate Services in Coral Gables, which had the listing. Juncadella, who said a confidentiality agreement barred him from discussing the tenant, said the center has all the latest bells and whistles. High ceilings provide space to stack goods seven or eight racks high, he said.

Amazon has been pouring huge sums into expanding its operations and has stepped up the opening of warehouse and distribution centers both in the United States and internationally. For the third quarter, Amazon posted a bigger than expected net loss of $437million or 95 cents a share.

Amazon said those interested in working at the center can apply online at www.workatamazonfulfillment.com.


http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article4125518.html#storylink=cpy

 

[the artist known az]

yo moms would object to working there

 

[newarkhiphop]

@Liquid

 

[PS5 Pro]

Let me tell you why this idea is just a waste of money on there parts.

Today I was taking a shyt (Tru Story)

My phone beeps and its a notification for my emails. One is from Amazon

I click it, see it has lightning deals. So I click that

Nothing but I do see a Basketball that is normally $44 and it had the used ones for $30
But they was selling this new for $17

While I'm watching it via my phone, I see the inventory goes from 50% to 83% in a span of 2min?

At this point, I could have wiped my ass 2mins ago, but I couldn't shift my focus away from the screen.

I'm PRIME status so I took the plunge, and bought a basketball while taking a shyt. And we about to get hit with a fukking snow storm in 24hrs.

Impulse buys and delayed wipes. Damn you Amazon

That's why a store isn't even necessary imo

 

[Scientific Playa]

@yo moms i know u out there lurking son




Amazon's new robot army is ready to ship
By By BRANDON BAILEY AP Technology Writer
12/01/2014 10:21 AM

A Kiva robot drive unit is seen, foreground, before it moves under a stack of merchandise pods, seen on a tour of one of Amazon's newest distribution centers in Tracy, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 30, 2014. This Amazon Fulfillment Center opened in 2013 and was refitted to use new robot technology in the summer of 2014. All year Amazon has been investing in ways to make shipping faster and easier to prepare for this holiday season. At this Northern California warehouse the company is employing robotics and other new technology to help workers process the annual onslaught of shopping orders. Brandon Bailey AP Photo

TRACY, California
A year ago, Amazon.com workers like 34-year-old Rejinaldo Rosales hiked miles of aisles each shift to "pick" each item a customer ordered and prepare it for shipping.

Now the e-commerce giant boasts that it has boosted efficiency — and given workers' legs a break — by deploying more than 15,000 wheeled robots to crisscross the floors of its biggest warehouses and deliver stacks of toys, books and other products to employees.

"We pick two to three times faster than we used to," Rosales said during a short break from sorting merchandise into bins at Amazon's massive distribution center in Tracy, California, about 60 miles east of San Francisco. "It's made the job a lot easier."

Amazon.com Inc., which faces its single biggest day of online shopping on Monday, has invested heavily this year in upgrading and expanding its distribution network, adding new technology, opening more shipping centers and hiring 80,000 seasonal workers to meet the coming onslaught of holiday orders. Amazon says it processed orders for 36.8 million items on the Monday after Thanksgiving last year, and it's expecting "Cyber Monday" to be even busier this year.

Related

In this still frame from video, a worker moves pods of merchandise that are moved by robots, seen on a tour of one of Amazon's newest distribution centers in Tracy, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 30, 2014. This Amazon Fulfillment Center opened in 2013 and was refitted to use new robot technology in the summer of 2014. All year Amazon has been investing in ways to make shipping faster and easier to prepare for this holiday season. At this Northern California warehouse the company is employing robotics and other new technology to help workers process the annual onslaught of shopping orders. | Brandon Bailey AP Photo

› ‹

CEO Jeff Bezos vows to one day deliver packages by drone, but that technology isn't ready yet. Even so, Amazon doesn't want a repeat of last year, when some customers were disappointed by late deliveries attributed to Midwestern ice storms and last-minute shipping snarls at both UPS and FedEx. Meanwhile, the company is facing tough competition from rivals like Google and eBay, and traditional retailers are offering more online services.

Amazon has forecast revenue of $27.3 billion to $30.3 billion for the holiday quarter, up 18 percent from last year but less than Wall Street had expected. However, Amazon has invested billions of dollars in its shipping network and its reliability is a big selling point to customers, Piper Jaffray investment analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to clients Friday. He thinks Amazon's forecast is conservative.

The Seattle-based company now has 109 shipping centers around the globe. The Tracy facility is one of 10 in which Amazon has deployed the robots, using technology acquired when the company bought robot-maker Kiva Systems Inc. in 2012, said Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice president for operations, who gave reporters a tour on Sunday.

More than 1,500 full-time employees work at the Tracy center, which has 1.2 million square feet of space — the equivalent of 28 football fields. They are joined by about 3,000 robots, gliding swiftly and quietly around the warehouse. The robots navigate by scanning coded stickers on the floor, following digital commands that are beamed wirelessly from a central computer.

Each of the squat orange machines can slide under and then lift a stack of shelves that's four feet wide and holds up to 750 pounds of merchandise. The system uses bar codes to track which items are on each shelf, so a robot can fetch the right shelves for each worker as orders come in.

Because the robots travel underneath, the shelves can be stacked closely together, which means the warehouse can hold more goods, Clark said. The Tracy center now holds about 20 million items, representing 3.5 million different products, from bottles of gourmet steak sauce to high-end audio headsets, books and video games. Clark said it can ship 700,000 items in a day, but will hold more and ship more by next year.

The robots will cut the Tracy center's operating costs by 20 percent, Clark said. But he was quick to assert they won't eliminate jobs.

"Our focus is all about building automation that helps people do their jobs better," he said, adding that workers are needed for more complex tasks such as shelving, packing and checking for damaged items. The system takes the complexity of different tasks into account, rather than forcing employees to work at an inhuman pace, Clark added.

Rosales agrees. Though he works rapidly, he said the robots "actually adjust to your speed. If you're picking slower, they slow down."

 

[Nephilim_BC]

Man, i am not reading those long ass stories you keep posting

 

[Scientific Playa]

Man, i am not reading those long ass stories you keep posting

what the flip i care bout what you read or don't read on the coli. k.i.m.

 

[The Mad Titan]

I feel like this defeats the point of amazon.

 

[Nephilim_BC]

More like keep it simple and post link, with a summary breh