Job Ads for Amazon’s First Retail Store

Amazon seem to be preparing to open their first retail store according to recruitment ads starting to appear on the web. If the ads are genuine, the store will apparently be in East London, in Westfield Stratford (the same site as the London Olympics).

There has been no official announcement from Amazon, and this hasn’t been covered on any news sites or blogs as far as I can see. But the ads seem genuine, and recruiters are apparently proactively approaching people via email.

The benefits listed in the job ads are fairly generous compared to similar jobs:

  • Up to £35,000 a year (around $53k)
  • 6 weeks paid holiday.
  • 25% employee discount.

Jeff Bezos talked about opening retail stores late last year, saying “We want to do something that is uniquely Amazon, but we haven’t found the idea yet.” The ads talk of the store as a ‘showroom’, and say applicants will be ‘actively enticing’ into the store. The job description also leans heavily on helping users with website info (selling, order info, using search functions), so it sounds like the store will be as much a ‘helper store’ for the online business as it will be a shop in its own right.

Here is a screengrab of one of the job ads. Judge for yourself whether it’s genuine:

amazonado

(you can view a cached version of the ad here)

Amazon opened a London ‘development centre’ last year, saying they did so because “the capital is brimming with world-class tech talent.” Apple previously opened their first European store in London (Regent Street), and Google opened their first ever retail outlet on London’s Tottenham Court Road in late 2011.

Do get in touch with me or leave a comment if you have any further info.