Amazon opened its first bookstore last November 2015 in the Seattle area. For those of you who might not know this, Amazon’s headquarters is in Seattle. I am excited about this, because it means that bookstores will hopefully be making a “come back.”

Right now, this is their first bookstore, but from what I read in the Wall Street Journal they have plans to open more stores soon. Of couse, the employees at the Amazon Bookstore were saying this is the only store they have planned at this time.

The bookstore had a good selection of books, a nice layout for viewing the books and a great magazine collection. Oh, and I was pleasantly surprised to see they had a very large children’s section too.

They cleverly had some Kindles displayed on the book racks. As I don’t know much about the Kindle I gave it a try. I have mixed emotions on reading books “only” online. I miss the feel of a hardcover printed book, seeing the cover, turning the pages, etc. I know online reading is certainly great for traveling and at some point I will be a Kindle owner; but, for now, I am still holding out and reading the old fashioned way.

Judging from the amount of people in the bookstore they feel the same way. There were people of all ages in this store. It is very close to the University of Washington. I read so many other things online that having a “real printed book” feels like I have escaped from technology — I like that feeling!

Printed books still have their place in the world!  Hallelujah!