A recent report stated that Amazon “is betting on its online delivery business by investing in bigger Whole Foods Market locations across the U.S.”
These larger Whole Foods stores (50,000 – 80,000 SF, according to a Bloomberg report) would include storage facilities that could hold electronics, books and fitness gear from Amazon.com. It’s unclear at this time whether the extra space would be used solely as a distribution center, or whether customers would be allowed to shop there. What is clear is that the move is meant to consolidate business operations and provide for faster delivery to customers.
Markets with large numbers of Amazon Prime subscribers are the prime targets for the larger Whole Foods stores.
Some reports have stated that Amazon may be interested in Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores, which could be used for Amazon showrooms or be used as distribution centers, but the list of bidders for the initial group of soon-to-be-vacant stores did not include Amazon.