Amazon has confirmed they will open its first general store in the UK on Wednesday, October 6th at the Bluewater shopping centre, Kent.
The US company will sell items that are regularly bought online such as books, technology and toys in its 4-star store which opens at 10am on Wednesday.
The 4-star store only sells products that are rated 4-stars and above on the website.
It is part of Amazon’s expansion into physical retail, with their first Amazon Fresh store opening in Ealing, London in March last year.
Amazon Fresh a 1st for Ealing and the UK https://t.co/oNegDPcmv5 pic.twitter.com/nrgEWgtlPP
— Make It Ealing (@makeitealing) March 5, 2021
Andy Jones, director of Amazon 4-star UK, said: “I’ve been working on this for the past two years so we are obviously just really keen now to get customers in and see what they think.
“The pandemic didn’t really change our thinking. We’ve seen that the model has worked really well in malls in the US, so a location like Bluewater made total sense to us.
“I think the variety in the store is really important and hopefully something customers will see,” Mr Jones told the PA news agency.
The store will stock Amazon products and local products from small suppliers with the items available changing on a regular basis to allow for customer feedback and new releases.
Mr Jones would not confirm if other stores would be opening in the UK in the future, but said the model so far has been “well-received”.
Bluewater shopping centre is in Dartford, Kent and opens from 10am – 9pm Monday – Friday, 9am – 9pm on Saturday and 11am – 5pm on Sunday. You can visit their website here.
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