In the best suspense movies, the threat is often hidden, uncertain and unclear until the last minute. Is there a stalker lurking around that dark corner? Who is Kaiser Soze? How big is that shark really? And perhaps best of all, are all those seeming threats of danger real, or are they actually just in the protagonist’s imagination?

Some film director thus might want to consider making a movie about Amazon’s plans for opening retail stores. The online giant has opened one physical outlet, in its home city of Seattle. Other than that piece of information, the rumors swirling about its expansion plans are mostly hearsay and speculation. But just like the best suspense movies, that hasn’t stopped plenty of other retailers from jumping out of their seats in fearful anticipation.

Let’s take a look at the evidence. One anonymous source reportedly indicated, in broad terms, that Amazon plans to open more stores. A few days later, the chief executive of a company that operates multiple malls—unaffiliated in any way with Amazon—asserted that Amazon planned to open 300–400 stores. But he offered no source or proof of the claim, nor would he comment further when pressed for more information. Similarly, Amazon has issued no official comment on any of this speculation.

But the speculation continues, mostly based on the notion that Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, is a very smart guy. Throughout the bookselling industry, even as big chains like Borders have fallen and analysts have predicted the demise of small and independent booksellers, those little stores actually have persisted and survived. Readers still enjoy the experience of strolling up and down aisles of books, stumbling across a random title or book cover that attracts their attention. Amazon has its spectacular recommendation algorithm, but it doesn’t have a way to give readers the unexpected pleasure of finding a gem of a book that they had never heard of before.

Because this appeal is unlikely to disappear, Bezos and Amazon seem likely to try to leverage it. Amazon tries to be virtually everything to everyone, so if book buyers want physical stores where they can browse the spines of books, then Amazon might be poised to find a way to give it to them—or not. The only way to find out is to wait for the story to come to a close and watch the credits roll.

Discussion Questions:

1.  Why is Amazon opening retail bookstores?
2. Do you think it can be successful in light of the wholesale failure of other bookstores over the last few years?

Source: Nick Wingfield, The New York Times, February 2, 2016