Opening a discount chain would mirror traditional retailers’ decades-old approach to offloading slow-selling merchandise. The outlet probably wouldn’t stock clothing, they said, because carrying multiple sizes would consume too much square footage.

The stock of a potential discount outlet would likely be similar to 4-Star, emphasizing smaller items that don’t occupy a lot of floor space, such as home goods, electronics, toys, baby products and kitchen items, the people said. Whole Foods Market, acquired in 2017, has more than 500 grocery stores. Amazon Fresh began opening stores last year and has been adding new locations at a steady clip.Īmazon today operates 96 physical stores and seven mall pop-ups under its own brand, according to its website. So did Amazon 4-Star, an electronics, home goods and toys bazaar that sells a potpourri of highly rated and bestselling items. In its hunt for further growth after reaching a commanding position in many categories of online retail, Amazon has built a sizable brick-and-mortar operation in the last several years, beginning with a chain of bookstores, which debuted in 2015 at an upscale Seattle mall.Īmazon Go, a cashierless convenience store that uses cameras and other sensors to track what shoppers take off the shelf, opened to the public in 2018. “It is keeping with the value proposition of Amazon, keeping price at the forefront and allowing customers to get access to products at low cost.” “It’s a way to be able to clean out warehouses, and get through inventory without having to destroy it,” said one of the people, who was briefed on the plans but not authorized to discuss them. The plans were preliminary and under discussion last year, but the pandemic and new Fresh grocery chain forced many employees to focus on day-to-day operations. The company has considered opening permanent stores, as well as pop-up locations in malls or parking lots, said the people. The outlets would carry unsold inventory sitting in Amazon’s warehouses at steep discounts, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Amazon outlet