Amazon Plans Brick-and-Mortar Boutique

As if traditional publishers don't already hate Amazon. Now the online retailer-turned-publisher is planning to open a small boutique store in Seattle to test the waters for a national chain, Gawker reports via the Good E-Reader blog. The store will sell Kindle e-readers, Kindle Fires, and various accessories—as well as books, probably, considering that Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million have banned Amazon's publishing imprints.

Amazon has kept details under wraps by contracting a shell company to design the store (which keeps plans from being disclosed to competitors via the FCC). But the store will probably open before the winter holiday rush in time to sell the new Kindle Fire 2. First, though, Amazon needs to "figure out how they’re going to avoid paying massive taxes," writes Michael Kozlowski on Good E-Reader. So far the company is exempt from paying state taxes on most sales, but that should change when the cash register goes ching in a brick-and-mortar store. (More Amazon stories.)