Amazon.com, the online giant whose rapid expansion helped derail many retail chains, may soon open its first physical store, at a prime site in Midtown Manhattan in New York, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Amazon plans to open its first full-fledged store across from the Empire State Building, the Journal reported.
The area, which is also near Macy's flagship store, is one of New York's busiest areas.
The site will double as a mini-warehouse to support same-day delivery, returns and order pickups within New York, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The store, which is expected to open in time for the Christmas shopping season, may also display Amazon's proprietary products, such as its Kindle line of e-readers and tablets, Fire smartphones and video-streaming boxes.
If the store takes off, Amazon may expand to other cities, the newspaper reported.
A shop would mark a significant move for an online retailer that has capitalised on its Internet business model and the cost-savings of doing away with a vast physical network.
In recent years however, chief executive Jeff Bezos has led a number of initiatives that have mandated a physical presence in cities.
These include lockers that temporarily hold customer purchases, for example, and a rapid expansion of grocery and same-day delivery that has often meant maintaining some sort of local distribution centre.
The company has also on occasion set up pop-up stores in shopping centres, though those have been rare.
