At 30,000 square feet, Amazon Style is smaller than traditional department stores, but offers “more than twice as many styles,” according to a press release.
Amazon
Amazon is closing its physical clothing stores nearly a year and a half after opening the first location, the company confirmed, marking the latest shift in its physical retail strategy.
The company said it will close its two Amazon Style stores in Columbus, Ohio and Glendale, California, by Nov. 9.
“After careful consideration, we have decided to close our two physical retail Amazon Style stores and focus on our online fashion shopping experience, where we offer a new and exciting selection.[s] at a great value and introducing innovative technology to meet the needs of every customer,” Amazon spokesperson Kristen Kish said in a statement. “Physical retail continues to be an important part of our business and we continue to invest in growing our grocery store business. spanning Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Go, and third-party partnerships.”
Amazon launched the concept in January 2022 before opening the Glendale store to the public in May 2022. It represented the company’s first foray into peddling clothing, shoes and accessories in the offline world, and its latest attempt. to break into physical retail.
That effort has had mixed success. Last March, the company closed several retail chains, including its Amazon Books line, 4-Star and Pop Up stores, as part of a broader move to cut costs and control its physical footprint. Amazon also shed some warehouse space, eliminated several untested bets and laid off about 27,000 employees. The company also temporarily paused the expansion of its Amazon Go cashierless markets and Fresh supermarkets.
Kish said Amazon will continue to open new stores and revamp its Fresh grocery chain, and two redesigned stores recently opened in Chicago.
Amazon is working closely with employees affected by the Style store closures, Kish said. It will give them the option to move on to other roles in the company, and employees who decide not to stay at Amazon will be offered severance pay.
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