Amazon just opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore - here's what it's like inside

Melia RobinsonNov 6, 2015, 06:17 IST

A customer shops at the opening day for Amazon Books, the first brick-and-mortar retail store for online retail giant Amazon, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015, in Seattle. The company says the Seattle store, coming two decades after it began selling books over the Internet, will be a physical extension of its website, combining the benefits of online and traditional book shopping. Prices at the store will be the same as books sold online. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)Elaine Thompson/AP

How's this for irony? Online retail-giant Amazon - possibly the biggest threat facing bookstores across America - opened a brick-and-mortar bookstore in Seattle, Washington, this week. It's the company's first physical store since founder and CEO Jeff Bezos launched the company in his garage 21 years ago.

Amazon Books, housed in a former Blue C Sushi location, contains upwards of 5,000 books, including best-sellers, Amazon.com customer favorites, and titles hand-picked by employees, including Bezos himself. The company will also reference its treasure trove of data to figure out what's worth keeping on the shelves.

Amazon gets a leg up on traditional bookstores because the company orders its stock in such massive quantities, according to New Republic's Dustin Kurtz. By demanding big margins from publishers, the company can throw its money at things other than inventory, such as rent, better wages for employees, and discounts for customers.

These photos from Amazon Book's opening day might make you think twice about using your virtual shopping cart.

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Amazon just opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore - here's what it's like inside