Amazon warns Philadelphia it could rethink brick-and-mortar store plans: Report
E-commerce giant Amazon warned Philadelphia officials that it could rethink plans to open a brick-and-mortar store in the city after the passage of a proposal to ban cashless retail operations.
Philadelphia’s city council passed the bill, which would block stores from refusing to accept cash from customers, by a 12-4 vote, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The proposal was designed in large part to protect the city’s low-income residents who lacked access to cashless payment options such as credit accounts.
Amazon has been testing cashierless store concepts in recent months and reportedly plans to open up to 3,000 “Amazon Go” cashless convenience stores around the country. According to the Inquirer, Philadelphia City Councilman Allan Domb said Amazon representatives had called the city’s commerce department “several times” to warn that the bill could keep the e-commerce giant from building the physical stores in Philadelphia.
Another council member, Mike Dunn, confirmed to the Inquirer that Amazon had warned officials that the bill was an obstacle, but said the company did not specify “the likelihood of their coming or timing.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report comes one day after Amazon announced it had canceled plans to build a second headquarters in the Queens borough of New York City after facing public criticism from local lawmakers. The e-commerce giant said it would not seek a new location for the product, which had promised to add 25,000 high-paying jobs to the local economy.
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Critics argued that the package that New York state and city officials used to lure Amazon, which included $3 billion in tax incentives, amounted to corporate welfare and was a misuse of critical resources.
