Amazon, perhaps the biggest online retailer in the entire freakin' world, has announced that it's planning to open a retail store in New York City to compliment holiday traffic during the busy gift-giving season with the location featured prominently on West 34th Street.
Don't call if a Miracle on 34th Street just yet, as the store would also function as "a mini-warehouse, with limited inventory for same-day delivery within New York, product returns and exchanges, and pickups of online orders," as The Wall Street Journal reports.
I've visited New York City once and spent too much time at specialty shops like the Nintendo World Store, so it'll be interesting to see if Amazon can make a retail chain out this opening like Apple has with its retail stores throughout the country.
For one, Amazon's warehouses already aim for highly efficient input and output of product so letting shoppers know of their purchased product's location has remained largely under wraps. The company wouldn't want eager consumers chasing down the FedEx or UPS truck as it leaves the facility. Still, decreasing the wait from online order to doorstep remains a goal for everyone involved in online shopping.
