Amazon’s 1st DC bookstore opens Tuesday in prime Georgetown location

Customers browse aisles at the opening day for Amazon Books, the first brick-and-mortar retail store for online retail giant Amazon, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015, in Seattle. The company says the Seattle store, coming two decades after it began selling books over the Internet, will be a physical extension of its website, combining the benefits of online and traditional book shopping. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)(AP/Elaine Thompson)

WASHINGTON — Amazon’s first brick-and-mortar bookstore for D.C. opens Tuesday in Georgetown.

Amazon Books will sit next to the Nike Store at 3040 M St. Northwest.

The location occupies about 6,000 square feet. Because of its limited physical space, Amazon said, it will only carry curator-selected books, devices, toys and games that are either rated 4 stars and above, that are bestsellers on Amazon.com or that are new releases.

Amazon Books associates will also be on hand to answer questions, and a device section will let customers test-drive Amazon devices and accessories, including Echo and Smart Home accessories.

Amazon has 14 other physical bookstores in eight states. A second D.C.-area store is in the works as well on Bethesda Row: 7117 Arlington Road.

Barnes & Noble recently closed its longtime Bethesda Row location after losing its lease. An Anthropologie store is replacing that Barnes & Noble.

In addition to the Bethesda location, which is expected to open this summer, it is also opening an Amazon Books store in a Denver suburb later this year.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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