October 14, 2014
What will be sold at Amazon’s New York non-store?
by Mark Krotov & Alex Shephard
Last week, we brought news of a major leap into the future from those brave, bold innovators at Amazon: the creation of New York’s first-ever pop-up shop/storage facility/product takeout space/kitchenware non-boutique/very poor substitute for a store that actually sells things. In other words, a storefront warehouse, but one that, unlike Amazon’s other warehouses, won’t lead to people collapsing from heat exhaustion. (It helps that the store will be open only during colder months.)
Ever since the news broke, though, our ever-inquisitive readers have been writing in, asking we’ve been wondering what kinds of products will be carried by the Amazon Non-Miracle on 34th Street. (That’s the store’s official name.) As luck would have it, over the weekend, we received invented a partial inventory list. The array of products is fascinating, and will surely make for an exciting, immersive customer experience. Perhaps, for once, we’ve underestimated Amazon.
- Buy Button plush toys (non-non-toxic)
- Anti-Hachette stickers (pack of 1,000; shown above)
- The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro (used, possibly stolen)
- Tickets to the Amazon Warehouse Experience (h/t Tom Gara)
- iPod Nanos, pre-loaded with parts 1 and 2 of Bezos’s Leadership Rules podcast (part 1: “Yelling to Get What You Want”; part 2: “Raging When Yelling Doesn’t Work”)
- Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 gallon, 128 oz
- Drones (not yet FAA approved)
- Che Guevara t-shirts, except Hugh Howey’s face is where Che’s should be
- Blue Origin temporary tattoos
- Crates of unsold Amazon Fire Phones, 99 cents each
- Three kinds of piñatas (Douglas Preston head, Andrew Wylie head, James Patterson head)
- Lubricant
- Author trading cards (There’s only one stat on the back: Amazon sales rank)
- Small business arson kits (perfect for stores with large amount of kindling)
- Publisher arson kits
- Washington Post subscriptions (sets of 1,000)
- Digimons
- AbeBooks gift cards
- Zappos gift cards
- Diapers.com gift cards
- Audible.com gift cards
- Jeff Bezos dolls. Pull the string. I dare you.
- Suzy Kuzy USA Beer Mitt (Thank You Department of Justice Edition)
- Kindle Fire facepainting sets (non-non-toxic)
- Ecuadorian navy playsets
- Undercut like the Stars: The Official 2014 Guide to Showrooming
- Amazon Prime logo t-shirts (infinite quantity, renewable monthly)
- The Collected Works of Sam Walton, by Sam Walton
- George Orwell bobblehead dolls
- Ziploc bags filled with shredded copies of The New Republic (makes great confetti!)
- Amazon gift cards