Amazon.com Inc shares (NASDAQ:AMZN) held steady in pre-market trade Thursday, a day after reports emerged that the e-commerce giant is closing its 87 pop-up stores.
The shutting of the small shops – which display Fire tablets, Kindle readers and Amazon’s voice-activated speakers Echo and Alexa – is set to occur before the end of April, according to the Wall Street Journal.
READ: Amazon.com declines after e-commerce giant issues disappointing 1Q guidance
The pop-up stores, which usually are no bigger than five hundred square feet, have been operating in Whole Foods locations, malls as well as Kohl’s stores across the US.
Amazon.com shares nudged up 0.3% or $5.04 to hit $1,673.99 before the opening bell Thursday after closing down 1.39% to $1,668.95 on Wednesday.
The company’s retreat from this arena represents the closing of one chapter in its foray into bricks and mortar retailing.
“After much review, we came to the decision to discontinue our pop-up kiosk program, and are instead expanding Amazon Books and Amazon 4-star, where we provide a more comprehensive customer experience and broader selection,” a spokesperson for Amazon told CNBC.
Signaling its desire to keep a foot in the traditional retail space, the e-commerce specialist has plans to introduce additional Amazon-4 star stores, which sell goods marketed on Amazon.com that are popular and highly-rated, as well as open more Amazon Books stores this year, per the CNBC report.
Contact Ellen Kelleher at ellen@proactiveinvestors.com
-- updated with Thursday's pre-market share price move and headline change--