Amazon.com, Inc. announced on Wednesday that it will be closing all of its physical bookstores, pop-up shops, and "4-star" stores in the United States and United Kingdom, according to Reuters.
The online retailer currently has 24 bookstores, 33 4-star locations, and nine pop-up mall kiosks. They had plans to open 16 more 4-star locations, but will instead shift their focus from brick-and-mortar to grocery stores.
"We’ve decided to close our Amazon 4-star, Books, and Pop Up stores and focus more on our Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Go, and Amazon Style stores and our Just Walk Out technology," Amazon said in an emailed statement, per Bloomberg.
"We remain committed to building great, long-term physical retail experiences and technologies, and we’re working closely with our affected employees to help them find new roles within Amazon."
Amazon added that they plan to help employees at closing stores find new roles within the company, like placing them at a nearby Amazon store location. Employees would receive a severance package if they decide to not stay with the company, according to Reuters.
The company purchased the grocery store chain Whole Foods Market in 2017 for $13 billion, and currently operates more than 500 locations in the U.S. and U.K.
Amazon is currently working on grocery stores without cashiers called Amazon Go, using their "Just Walk Out" technology that can track the items in your cart with a sensor and links to a user's Amazon account.
They also announced the launch of Amazon Style, a 30,000-square-foot brick-and-mortar fashion store in Los Angeles, that's expected to open at some point this year. It will be located at The Americana at Brand mall nearby other major retailers like Nordstrom, J. Crew, and Urban Outfitters.
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