TechFlash reports that Amazon.com was granted for a patent for a building that looks like it would be a very small store. It certainly is not a large store that would threaten the big bricks-and-mortar retailers.
The patent, number D593,208 is for the "ornamental design for a building structure" that is a box-like with some kind of awnings. The patent application was originally filed Oct. 31, 2007, and lists Michael Ausich, Peter Stocker, and Stephenie Landry of Seattle as inventors.
What's Amazon's strategy here? Amazon briefly experimented with pickup locations for its Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service in the Seattle area, and the black and white images submitted with the patent application look at lot like those pickup stations.
It's not clear what Amazon would do with these small stores. The TechFresh article notes that Amazon did run Amazon Fresh stores in the Seattle area before closing them in 2008. The Amazon Fresh stores looked fairly similar to the design in the patent. You can see a photo of one here. It could be that Amazon is considering relaunching Amazon Fresh or this is just an old patent they filed from the Amazon Fresh days that finally got approved.
