
My 2.5 Star Trip to Amazon's New Bookstore - andyjohnson0
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123352/my-25-star-trip-amazons-bizarre-new-bookstore
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mmanfrin
Article is trying too hard to be clever by half.

    
    
      I did not use the phrase Day One, but wondered whether the 
      staff, including presumably Walkie Talkie, had taken a 
      moment before opening that morning to reflect on Amazon’s 
      jargon, including that bit of eschatology.
    
      There is a desk labelled Amazon Answers. Presumably the 
      questions asked of Amazon are answered by a human employee
      of the store, though it’s unclear if some sort of Delphic 
      process involving candles and chanting occurs.
    
      Books are not always arranged in a clear manner. On the 
      memoir wall Frederick Douglass abuts Anne Frank, herself 
      next to Ben Carson. Amazon is disrupting the alphabet. 
      RIP, alphabet.

~~~
ChuckMcM
The style bothered me as well, I could not tell if the was unconsciously
projecting all of their internal conflict into the situation or if they were
trying to write at a snark level that would be above the comprehension of some
but not all readers. Either way it seemed the author was conflicted deeply
about what they were trying to write (or perhaps not write)

~~~
jdarais
The style reminded me a lot of the writing style of Fight Club: lots of anti-
establishment bitterness seeping through observations of comical ironies.
Probably also a reflection of the conflict between corporate Amazon and the
cool kids who want to keep Seattle cool.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
According to his byline, the author is from Portland. I think that explains a
lot of it, actually.

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dkonofalski
I can't help but feel that the entire article is filled to the brim with
bitterness. There's no objectivity to it and, instead of coming away with some
negative opinion of Amazon's new store, I feel like I'm coming away with a
negative view of the author and a willingness to give Amazon's store a shot.

------
aaronbrethorst
I think there's plenty to criticize about Amazon Books, but this review misses
the mark. Three stars.

1\. The shopping mall is named University Village due to its proximity to the
University of Washington.

2\. This is how emails from recruiters on LinkedIn always work. There's
nothing new here.

    
    
        Cady received LinkedIn messages and an email.
        It was very personal in tone, but ended with
        a simple choice: a button to indicate whether
        or not she was interested in the offer. “I
        clicked not interested.”
    

3\. It seems absolutely bizarre to me that this article fails to mention, even
once, Seattle's best independent book store: Elliot Bay Book Company
([http://www.elliottbaybook.com](http://www.elliottbaybook.com))

~~~
reddiric
4\. Also missed two other Starbucks in University Village, including one of
the busiest in the world.

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seibelj
What a pompous, ridiculous article. I feel like the author was smelling his or
her own farts the entire time they were writing this

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n7c3c1
"Here's a 0.5 star review on my 2.5 star trip to Amazon's New Bookstore"

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williamstein
I went there the day they opened and was blown away. 10x better than any
bookstore I've ever been in before. I loved it.

~~~
binarycrusader
Better than Powell's City of Books in portland?

[http://www.powells.com/locations/powells-city-of-
books](http://www.powells.com/locations/powells-city-of-books)

I'd find that hard to believe.

~~~
OrwellianChild
+1 this. Highly recommended to check ow Powell's if ever you find yourself in
Portland.

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bentoner
Read this article instead

[http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-
news/bookse...](http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-
news/bookselling/article/68573-inside-amazon-s-first-physical-bookstore.html)

It's more informative and less bitter.

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Afton
Hmmm I just assumed that the bookstore was a book-store wrapper around Amazon
Lockers. The proximity to U-village denizens would make it a good place to put
some.

~~~
manacit
The area where people live (closer to 45th, on the other side of the UW
campus) has quite a few Amazon Lockers.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Besides, its down the hill from that. Not a great place to be lugging packages
up high grade side streets.

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tempestn
I appreciate the fact that the giant sign is on a literal brick & mortar wall.

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zzleeper
I've been offline for a few days so... WTF? What's the reason for Amazon
opening a brick and mortar? Tax avoidance? legal loopholes? I'm really
puzzled..

~~~
kristianp
Your tone got you downvoted, but I'm also interested in Amazon's motivation
for opening this store.

~~~
georgeoliver
If I had to put money down I'd say there are two motivations. First it's pure
marketing. There are Apple and Microsoft stores in the same shopping center.
Amazon is promoting its brand.

Second, perhaps more far-fetched and to me more interesting, it's a long play
by a company famous for long plays. Amazon has predicted a future where they
put most brick and mortar bookstores out of business, and recognized this
future is not good if you want to sell books.

