LONE TREE, Colo. -- The world’s largest internet retailer has opened a store at Park Meadows in Lone Tree.
Why a brick and mortar store for the online retail giant?
“Customers shop in more ways than one,” said Cameron Janes, the vice president of the physical store Amazon. “Customers love shopping online, but a large number of them continue to shop offline.”
“Ultimately,” he said, “we want to be where our customers are, and they’re in malls like this as well.”
Four Star Store
The Lone Tree store is Amazon’s second 4-star store. The first opened in SoHo in New York.
The name 4-star refers to the products being sold inside.
“Everything is rated 4-stars or above by customers at Amazon.com, is a top seller, or is new and trending,” Janes said, “and we built the entire store around that concept.”
Amazon Junkies
I think it’s great to be able to handle the products,” said Bob Wintheiser, who was out shopping with his wife, Peggy, Thursday afternoon. “Online has its advantage. It’s all there if you want to search you’ll find it, but it’s nice to be able to pick it up and say, ‘Oh, this is heavier than I thought.’ It makes a big difference.”
The Wintheisers consider themselves Amazon junkies. They have purchased many things online.
“I’ve seen it all,” Peggy said, “but a picture is not the same.”
“They’ve got a store you can actually walk in and put your hands on things,” Bob said. “So yeah, we’re here.”
Two Price Tags
While perusing the store, the Wintheisers noticed that there were two prices listed on many items.
One tag lists the regular store price, the other shows the lower, Prime (membership) price.
“Prime customers in the store will pay the same price they would pay online at Amazon.com,” Mr. Janes said, “and we have digital price tags here which update in real time, so if our price changes online, we update it here in the store as well.”
“That’s nice,” Peggy said.
Products
Janes told Denver7 that the Park Meadows store carries nearly 2,400 products.
“These are products that customers really, really love,” he said. “We have a full range of Amazon devices, consumer electronics, toys, books and kitchen products.
Price comparison
How do the prices compare with other stores?
Denver7 checked a number of products, comparing the store, Prime and competing store prices.
An iRobot Roomba 690 vacuum sells for $374.99 in the Amazon store. It’s only $297.00 for Prime members. At Walmart, the same unit sells for $329.00 and at Best Buy, the price is $349.00.
A Fire TV Stick is priced at $39.99 at Amazon and $49.99 at Best Buy.
A table of items that are trending in Denver includes a Sunbeam quilted, heated mattress pad.
The Amazon store price is $69.99, while the Prime price is $65.05. The Sunbeam.com price is $89.99.
Park Meadows Excited
The Senior General Manager of Park Meadows Retail Resort, Pam Kelly, said she is “wildly excited to have Amazon join the retail family.”
“Any time we bring in a new and exciting retailer, Amazon being one of them, it always generates more traffic,” she said, “more excitement, and more people who want to come and see what’s new.”
The store was packed Thursday afternoon, with people shopping up a storm.