Is Amazon bailing on its plans for a New York City showroom? And can RadioShack be the answer to Amazon’s omnichannel plans?
That and more, tonight, on… Okay, the lead is a little dramatic, but sometimes we need to have some fun.
New York Builder Suing Amazon
According to Forbes.com, Durst Organization filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court seeking $25 million in lost revenue and damages from Amazon. The ecommerce marketplace allegedly reneged on an agreement to rent space from one of its Midtown Manhattan office buildings. Amazon allegedly committed to rent more than 310,000 square feet of space in a building at 1133 Avenue of the Americas.
Allegedly, Amazon pulled out of Avenue of the Americas to lease space at 7 W. 34th Street in Manhattan, across the street from the Empire State Building and down the street from the iconic Macy’s in Herald Square. The plan was for Amazon to open its first storefront there in time for the Christmas season.
That Amazon store did not happen, and it seemed like a pipe dream for Amazon to rent out space in October and be ready to roll by Black Friday. Forbes reports that Amazon will not have a storefront on W. 34th street, and is instead subletting that space out to other retailers.
But in the meantime, Amazon did launch Prime Now one-hour delivery in New York City in December, and is using the W. 34th St. location as its hub. Amazon is also using bicycle messenger services to handle deliveries in Manhattan.
So the prime real estate at W. 34th St. is being used as a distribution hub, just not as a storefront.
RadioShack to Amazon’s Rescue?
Amazon wants storefronts. RadioShack has storefronts. Too many storefronts. And RadioShack has no money.
Could a marriage between Amazon and RadioShack be in the works? Or a straight-up takeover of RadioShack by Amazon?
Right now, rumor has it Sprint Corp. wants to take over a bunch of RadioShack leases. But if Amazon is serious about having an omnichannel presence, it may want to act fast and make a deal with RadioShack.
And I’ll admit, I’m not the first person to have this idea.
Amazon wants to be everywhere. They want to offer same-day delivery. And, they want to make delivery by drones.
RadioShack IS everywhere, with 4,400-plus locations in the United States and Mexico. With its shares trading at less than $1, Amazon should be able to acquire RadioShack for chump change.
Then Amazon could do two things: It could keep running RadioShack as RadioShack, and use the stores as in-store pickup locations (and, of course, add Kindles, TV sticks, Fire phones (ha-ha) and other Amazon-branded items as in-store merchandise).
Or it could re-brand RadioShack stores as Amazon, and effectively turn the stores into Kindle shops (and Kindle repair centers), delivery locations, or both.
Either way, a retail giant like Amazon has the power to take over all these locations, and RadioShack store-level employees (and even corporate employees) can stay employed.