The news: Amazon plans to open a nearly 230,000-square-foot store in a southwest suburb of Chicago.
- The store would resemble a Walmart or Target superstore, according to project documents. The proposal says it will offer a wide selection of products, including groceries and general merchandise, and may also include a pharmacy and/or an Amazon One Medical area.
- Bloomberg reports the location will also feature a “limited warehouse component” to support store operations—which may be similar to the Whole Foods Market concept store in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, which includes a 10,000-square-foot automated micro-fulfillment center.
Why it matters: While our forecast expects Amazon to account for roughly $2 out of every $5 spent online in the US this year (39.6%), its ecommerce dominance has yet to translate at scale to the offline world.
- The retailer’s physical store sales—driven primarily by Whole Foods Market—generated $5.58 billion in Q3, representing just 3.7% of Amazon’s $147.16 billion in total revenues.
- Meanwhile, its efforts to launch brick-and-mortar bookstores, apparel shops, convenience stores, and even its mass-market Amazon Fresh grocery stores have largely underperformed.