Amazon to open second brick and mortar store

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon plans to open a second brick and mortar bookstore, in San Diego, this summer.

The online sales giant opened its first physical store in November in Seattle. The store sells books and Amazon's line of computer tablets and devices.

Amazon opens a physical bookstore, but still hopes you buy online

In an emailed statement, the company said, "We are excited to be bringing Amazon Books to the Westfield UTC Mall in San Diego and we are currently hiring store managers and associates. Stay tuned for additional details down the road."

Amazon's Seattle bookstore is in University Village, a high-end mall close to the University of Washington.

The location of the San Diego store is strikingly similar to the Seattle store, said John Mutter, editor-in-chief of Shelf Awareness, an online bookselling newsletter.

"I think the pace of this opening indicates that Amazon is proceeding carefully and slowly, so that the dozen or so openings I've heard is much more accurate than the 300-400 that the mall owner CEO blurted out in February."

The comment was a reference to a remark by the CEO of mall operator General Growth Properties Inc. CEO Sandeep Mathrani during an earnings call in February that Amazon planned to open up to 400 physical locations. Mathrani later backtracked from his statement.

Mall owner backtracks from Amazon bookstore statement

Amazon is famous for testing possible business moves, said Sucharita Mulpuru, a senior Amazon analyst with Forrester Research.

“Over time, there may be some lessons for selling in a physical environment and that could be something that is a bigger portion of sales in the long term for some categories. But is this transformational?  No,” she said.

The sales generated by a bookstore or two are meaningless to Amazon, a $100 billion company.

“Having two or even 20 7,000 square foot stores will not meaningfully affect its top line or its bottom line. Stores that small generally are lucky if they can generate a few million in sales annually,” she said.