It?s the e-commerce powerhouse?s latest move into brick-and-mortar retail Amazon plans to acquire Whole Foods for a sizable $13.7 billion in what?s being called a ?game-changing? move by CNBC, which first reported the news. The sale is expected to close later this year.
Amazon has long been moving to make its URL dominance an IRL phenomenon: The company?s first brick-and-mortar bookstore in New York City opened on June 1. It?s all part of the Seattle e-commerce giant?s increased influence in U.S. cities, from its massive network of storage warehouses to its new forays into real-world retail.
With this deal, Amazon will muscle fully into the world of real estate, acquiring Whole Foods locations from coast to coast, and stands to cement its prominence in the profitable groceries market, which the company has openly coveted. Though the U.S. retail sector is shrinking overall, companies like Walmart?known for their diversified offerings and low prices?enjoy continued profitability. As Curbed previously reported:

According to Cooper Smith, an analyst at L2 Inc., a New York-based business-intelligence firm, [Amazon] has been testing its technology and strategy with a small string of bookstores, which he sees as a means for Amazon to eventually enter into the grocery market, a $770 billion-dollar-a-year industry.
?These stores are about testing in-store tech to use in grocery stores,? he says, ?which is a much bigger opportunity. Amazon already owns books. Did they crush ...