Amazon to open first Walmart-type Supercenter

Amazon is on its way to compete directly with Walmart and Target in the big-box, brick-and-mortar space when it opens its first new big-box store concept in the United States.

Amazon has applied for a permit to build a one-level, 229,000-square-foot store to sell groceries and general merchandise in the Village of Orland Park, southwest of Chicago.

If approved by officials in the village, Amazon could begin construction later this year. Earlier this month, the village planning commission reviewed the project, which has been endorsed by Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge.

The proposal also includes multiple future retail outlots as part of the development concept, and is entirely commercial, according to village officials who have reviewed the plan. The store will sit on 35 acres.

The site of the proposed retail development at 159th Street and LaGrange Road in Orland Park is already surrounded by big-box retail including Target, Costco Wholesale and DICK'S Sporting Goods and is about a mile south of Orland Square Mall, owned by Simon Property Group.

The average size of Target’s large-format stores is about 150,000 square feet, while Walmart Supercenters can range between 100,000 to over 250,000 square feet, with the largest U.S. store in Albany, N.Y., being a two-level, 260,000-square-foot Supercenter.

Both Walmart and Amazon are among the largest companies in the world with projected annual revenue exceeding $7B in fiscal 2025.

While Amazon’s retail success has been through its pick-pack-ship operation over the years, the e-commerce giant has continued to experiment with physical store formats. Its most successful to date has been the Whole Foods Market operation created by acquisition.

Amazon launched a range of physical store formats between 2015 and 2020, including a bookstore, an eclectic, gift-focused outlet, automated checkout grab-and-go c-stores and a mainstream grocery chain. Most of those brands were wound down or saw expansion curbed, as the company struggled to find the right formula for in-person shopping under the Amazon brand.

Read more: Amazon Is Planning Walmart-Style Big Box Store Near Chicago (Bloomberg)