This will be Amazon’s fourth brick-and-mortar store. The online business opened its first retail location in Seattle, WA last year (see “ICv2 Visits the Amazon Brick and Mortar Store”); photos accompany this article. It has since opened a second location in San Diego, CA and has announced a third for Portland, OR.

The store will be located at 3443 N. Southport Ave., The Chicago Tribune reported, and it sounds like the same model as the first we visited, with face-out popular books rather than trying for deep selection, a significant graphic novel section, and a smattering of games. 

A mall property owner revealed earlier this year that Amazon was planning to open 300 to 400 stores nationwide (see “Amazon Planning National Store Roll-Out”).  That has never been confirmed, and at this pace it would take a while.  

The Chicago store is targeted to open in 2017.