Selling books online is what put Amazon on the map. Now ranked among the most valuable companies in the world, the company began selling books to Denver-area consumer the old fashioned way on Wednesday: Via a storefront in Cherry Creek.
The Denver location of Amazon Books opened at 10 a.m. Wednesday at 2787 E. Second Ave., a block east of the Cherry Cricket in the city’s Cherry Creek North district.
The 4,500-square-foot store, housed in the ground floor of the BMC Investments and Bow River Capital Partners’ new Financial House building, carries a curated — but also data-driven — selection of 3,000 books, as well as an array of Amazon devices, games, toys and other merchandise.
Just inside the doors, stands a rack titled “Most Wished for Books,” a selection of reading materials featured on the most “wish lists” of the e-commerce company’s millions of users. Excerpts of online reviews can be found hanging over hardcovers for sale. Special prices for Amazon Prime subscribers, some as much as 40 percent lower than the list price, are displayed on digital signs.
But there are also racks like “Denver Books for Kids,” selections that may not appear on any nationwide bestseller lists but were hand-picked to appeal to pint-sized readers at a mile high; books like “The Littlest Bunny in Colorado: An Easter Adventure.”
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“That’s really the goal of this store is to make it really, really easy to walk in and pick up something fabulous to read,” Sarah Mathew, director of product management for Amazon Books, said Wednesday as she strolled through the store, the slow-growing brick-and-mortar chain’s 19th location nationwide.
Among the first customers through the doors Wednesday was Bob Wyatt. An “enthusiastic Amazon purchaser” online, Wyatt, 80, says he appreciates the company’s variety, prices and convenience. When it comes to books though, he is glad Amazon has a physical store close to his home in the Speer neighborhood.
“Sometimes it’s nice to hold it in your hands and look at it. I like to do that very much with books,” said Wyatt, two paperbacks already tucked under his arm.
Like the company from whence it came, the store is a departure from traditional book stores. Its interior design motif is mostly black and white. Its floors are made of sealed concrete. There isn’t a single chair in the place in which a shopper can plop down and leaf through a book or magazine.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Sales consultant Kendice Wesley, middle, greets customers as they walk in the door of the new Amazon bookstore in Cherry Creek on March 6, 2019, in Denver.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Customer Hailey Spencer checks out books in the new Amazon bookstore in Cherry Creek on March 6, 2019, in Denver.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Well heeled customers check out the new Amazon bookstore in Cherry Creek on March 6, 2019, in Denver.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
A customer checks out the selection of books on display inside the new Amazon bookstore in Cherry Creek on March 6, 2019, in Denver.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Popular books are on display inside the new Amazon bookstore in Cherry Creek on March 6, 2019, in Denver. The books all have star ratings and a lower price for Amazon Prime members.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
The new Amazon book store is dog friendly and allows customer to bring their dogs in when they shop, pictured on March 6, 2019, in Denver.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Customers Hailey and Michael Spencer check out books in the new Amazon bookstore in Cherry Creek on March 6, 2019, in Denver.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
A customer checks out the selection of books on display inside the new Amazon bookstore in Cherry Creek on March 6, 2019 in Denver.
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In true Amazon.com fashion, a significant portion of the store’s real estate is dedicated to things other than books. Some of the items fit the context — like cooking utensils near the cookbooks. But the store also carries an array of Amazon devices like Echo smart home assistants, Ring doorbells, even iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaners.
It is the second brick-and-mortar retail space Amazon has opened in the Denver metro area in the past six months. It brought the second ever Amazon 4-star store to Park Meadows mall in October. Amazon Books will employ eight people full time.
Amazon spurned Denver in its search for a location for a regional headquarters, known as HQ2, last year, instead choosing locations in Virginia and New York City (the latter of which the company has since announced it has decided against opening). But the company is growing its presence in Colorado via industrial distribution centers, new offices and its expanding retail footprint.
An Amazon spokeswoman said that the company invested $200 million in infrastructure, research facilities and pay to local employees in Colorado in 2016 and 2017 alone. Its metro-area facilities now include two warehouses in Aurora, a 1-million-square-foot fulfillment center in Thornton, and advertising-focused tech hub in Boulder and a Prime Now hub in Denver.
The spokeswoman declined to say just how many people Amazon employs in Colorado, but said the number is over 1,500, a figure that had previously been reported as the workforce of the Thornton facility alone. She also declined to discuss whether or not Amazon has an office presence in a WeWork co-working location downtown or was planning to expand into a building at 1515 Wynkoop St., both details that have been reported by BusinessDen. A zoning permit was pulled for 1515 Wynkoop in February labeling the third, fourth and fifth floors of the building as being for “Amazon Use,” city records show.
Mac Clouse, a finance professor at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, theorized that Amazon may be a bit shy about its size because, in the eyes of its critics, it is already too big.
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“They have got to be a little bit careful that they are not declared to be a monopoly in some ways, because they are so big and they are into so many things,” Clouse said, noting that the company recently received a hail of criticism after it was revealed it paid no federal income tax in 2018.
As vice president of economic development for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., Sam Bailey was the point person handling the state’s HQ2 pitch to Amazon. Despite not being named a winner in that contest, Bailey said the state’s courtship was about building on an already budding relationship with a powerful company. He puts the company’s in-state workforce at around 3,000 people.
“We’re certainly happy to support their ongoing investment in our state whether that be small-scale or large-scale,” he said.
