Amazon’s Bookstore Ambitions Soon Expanding To New York

After about a half a year of speculation on the subject, it looks like Amazon will be opening its long-anticipated bookstore in Manhattan. The first New York City location will be in the Time Warner Center.

The 4,000 square foot store will be located in the Shops at Columbus Circle which sit at the edge of Central Park. The shop will be one of a handful of higher-end shopping destinations in the multi-story shopping hot spot. According to an email from a spokesperson, Amazon is pleased with its Time Warner Center location.

The Big Apple expansion comes as part of Amazon’s larger push into physical retail — the mostly e-commerce firm has already opened locations in San Diego, Seattle and Portland. Dedham, MA and Chicago are both slated for brick-and-mortar locations.

Ironically, part of what is driving Amazon into physical retail is falling rental rates — spurred on by consumers’ mass adoption of online shopping. Average asking rents in Manhattan fell from 18.1 percent to 2.3 percent in all the shopping districts except for lower Manhattan. Q3 also saw availability climb in nine of the 11 Manhattan retail submarkets when stacked against the same time period a year ago.