In which city did Amazon open its first physical bookstore?

Amazon opened its first physical bookstore in Seattle. The Amazon Books store opened on November 2, 2015, at the University Village shopping center in Seattle, Washington.

The store marked a major change for a company founded as an online bookseller. Instead of abandoning its digital identity, Amazon brought elements of its website into the shop: books were displayed cover-outward, prices matched Amazon’s online listings, and shelf information incorporated customer ratings and reviews.

The first store carried about 5,000 titles and also sold Amazon devices such as Kindle readers, Fire tablets, Echo speakers, and Fire TV products. Its design gave Amazon a way to test how online purchasing data could influence a physical retail experience.

Seattle’s bookstore was Amazon’s first permanent retail store, but it was not the company’s first physical retail experiment. Amazon had already operated pop-up shops and pickup outlets, which is why those temporary formats are sometimes mistakenly identified as the first bookstore.