I’m back with a quick Amazon bookstore update! According to news sources (including “Job postings signal Amazon plans to scale up bookstore business“) numerous job openings with descriptions referring to Amazon Books have been posted since January 2016. These open positions are one signal of many that indicate the expansion of Amazon’s physical bookstores. I still think that it’s interesting, and a bit ironic, because the tech giant wiped out brick-and-mortar book shops all over the country as a result of it’s growth. In my last post referring to Amazon’s first physical bookstore in Seattle, Washington I mentioned that I was curious about whether the store would be a success. I’m still curious about this and haven’t seen any news coverage on its progress. Maybe I’ll have to sit outside the bookstore myself and track how much traffic there is…

In an article last week, Powell’s Books CEO dishes on Amazon’s threat, Miriam Sontz (Powell’s Books CEO) said, “”I thought it was a great acknowledgement of something that independent brick-and-mortar stores have known for the past few decades, which is there is something special that occurs at a physical bookstore that is not replicable on the Internet,’ Sontz told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Friday. ‘People have tried, and it’s just not the same experience. It doesn’t have the same serendipity. It doesn’t have the same sense of community.'” Miriam Sontz, you have my applause. I absolutely agree with Sontz and the atmosphere that’s created within bookstores. That’s why I go to one as often as possible.