Remember that Amazon retail store rumor from a few days ago? Well, Good E-Reader has heard more from anonymous “Amazon sources close to the situation.”

According to their sources, Amazon is going to roll out a retail store in Seattle within the next few months to test the waters and see if a chain of such stores could be profitable. “They intend on going with the small boutique route with the main emphasis on books from their growing line of Amazon Exclusives and selling their e-readers and tablets,” Good E-Reader’s Michael Kozlowski writes.

As a small boutique, the store will stock mainly high-margin or high-end items—such as Kindle readers and accessories. It will also carry Amazon’s own published books, which will in part counteract the major chains’ decision not to carry them.

The store is expected to open before the end of the year to capitalize on the holiday season.

Interesting news, if true. But one swallow does not make a summer, and one store does not make a chain. As a commenter on a previous article noted, Amazon does a lot of experimentation. (I recall that its delivery drop lockers first rolled out in Seattle too.) But not everything that it tests necessarily goes on to see the light of day.

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