Not content to be the dominant force in online retail, Amazon is moving up the rankings of the largest brick-and-mortar presences in the United States.
Amazon now has nearly 600 brick-and-mortar stores across the country, GeekWire reports. That total surpasses wholesaling icon Costco, and it is mostly thanks to the acquisition of Whole Foods in June of last year.
Whole Foods now makes up 80% of Amazon's footprint, according to GeekWire. The rest is a combination of Amazon Books, cashierless grocery store Amazon Go and the burgeoning frontiers of pickup storefronts for both its Amazon Prime and Amazon Fresh online services.
Since Amazon acquired Whole Foods, spiking its value, it has introduced several features meant to encourage more of its online customers to shop at the luxury grocer. It also continues to explore ways to use Whole Foods real estate to facilitate its delivery service, including building super-sized locations that would double as distribution centers and using parking lot spaces as pickup points for its delivery contractors.
Amazon could be expected to move higher up the list in the coming years — especially since flagging brands Barnes & Noble, Sears, Macy's and the since-folded Toys R Us are immediately above it, according to GeekWire.
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