In an earnings call Tuesday, General Growth Properties CEO Sandeep Mathrani told investors that Amazon is planning to open 300 to 400 stores nationwide.  In response to a question about mall traffic, Mathrani launched into a broad argument on the benefits of brick and mortar vs. online shopping, which led him to this:  “And just case in point, you go to Amazon opening bricks and mortar book stores and their goal is to open as I understand 300 to 400 book stores, and it should sit back and say that the last mile is all important, which is why Bonobos is opening bricks and mortar stores and Warby Parker is opening bricks and mortar stores and Birchbox is cutting their overhead to open bricks and mortar stores.”

General Growth Properties operates 120 malls nationwide. 

Amazon began testing a retail concept in Seattle last fall (see “Amazon Opens Bookstore”), which involved lots of the top-rated books (and to a lesser extent, games) from the website, and little else, with the net effect a smaller selection than the book superstores, and a selection of a very different sort The size of the store is larger than the stores of the old Waldens or B.Dalton chains, but considerably smaller than a Barnes & Noble store.  And the number of titles is probably closer to that of a Waldens because of the way the Amazon store displays books. 

So it’s hard to compare an Amazon chain to either the current Barnes & Noble chain (300-400 Amazon stores would give it about half the number of stores B&N has), or the mall-based book chains of old. 

And based on our  visit to the first Amazon store (see “ICv2 Visits the Amazon Brick and Mortar Store”), when we found something that was less a store and more a display of Amazon’s top products and services, it’s hard to evaluate the impact of an Amazon chain.  As a tool to introduce great products to shoppers, it would certainly increase the size of the pie, a positive impact.  On the other hand, 300-400 locations where shoppers could buy the best books in every category at Amazon prices is going to have a competitive impact as well. 

The overall impact will be determined by the behavior of Amazon retail shoppers outside the store.  Do they carry their newly acquired tastes to other outlets as they become more deeply interested, or do they just take them online and buy from Amazon’s website?    

Since there’s been no confirmation from Amazon, it’s possible that Mathrani was mentioning a trial balloon that may never come to pass.  But if Amazon is indeed about to enter the world of brick and mortar retailing in a big way, expect the landscape of retail to be dramatically altered.