Amazon Is Launching a Whole New Chain

Amazon may be opening a grocery store near you that's smaller than most supermarkets and priced for everyday shoppers. The online retail giant plans to open dozens of them across America and will start with one in Los Angeles as early as late 2019, an insider tells the Wall Street Journal; leases have been signed for two other locations and talks are ongoing for stores in Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. It's part of Amazon's expansion into brick-and-mortar, which includes no-cashier Amazon Go stores and its acquisition of high-end Whole Foods.

Details are scant, but the stores would average about 35,000 square feet rather than supermarkets' usual 60,000 square feet. Locations could include open-air shopping centers and strip malls, and Amazon may buy up regional grocery chains running about a dozen stores. But it's still a work in progress and, like other companies, Amazon could pull out of leases or postpone store openings. Meanwhile, New York business and political figures are urging Amazon to reconsider abandoning its proposed second headquarters in Long Island City, NBC New York reports. Gov. Andrew Cuomo personally called Jeff Bezos in an effort to change his mind. (See what Cuomo said to him.)