On 34th Street in New York. (Karol Markowicz)
Before it devastated department stores and ran roughshod through apparel and electronics shops, Amazon vanquished brick-and-mortar booksellers.
- With the demise of Borders, B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, plus the closure of a bunch of Barnes & Nobles, swaths of densely populated U.S. cities are now without a single remaining bookstore.
- In recent months, we've seen that Amazon has reconsidered its dissing of brick-and-mortar, and made the jarring decision to open its own, well-designed book shops, including the one above, on 34th Street near Madison, on New York's east side, spotted on Aug. 11 by New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz.
- What is that "now hiring" sign all about? Two part-time positions. In all, Amazon Books has 47 open jobs at its current and coming shops, according to its website. Not quite a resurrection of traditional retail books, but a clue to where retail is headed.