Amazon is opening hundreds of physical bookstores across the country

Amazon set to open bookstores across the country.

(Image credit: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

published 2 February 2016

Amazon plans to open 300 to 400 physical bookstore locations across the nation, The Wall Street Journal's financial editor announced Tuesday. The decision comes only a few months after Amazon opened its first and only physical location in Seattle.

In November, we reported that even though Amazon Books are physical stores, the literature on display is, in part, decided by algorithms that have a pretty good guess as to how you are going to shop. For example, Amazon Books will use data to select titles that appeal to Seattle shoppers at their Seattle location and then put those books on display. Customer shopping habits will also be analyzed to give Amazon Books a leg up on its competition.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.