Amazon is currently negotiating with JC Penney and Sears mall owner Simon Property Group to turn its abandoned department stores into Amazon distribution centres.
The landlord, which is the largest mall owner in the US, has been exploring the possibility of filling its empty anchor spaces with Amazon hubs, as originally reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The conversion would see Simon Property Group’s 63 JC Penney stores and 11 Sears stores adapted from department stores selling clothing, books, toys and electronics, into storehouses for the same types of goods.
Amazon is reportedly negotiating to take over multi-storey spaces of over 100,000 sq ft, but would pay much lower rents than any ordinary retailer – estimated to be as low as $4 (£3) per sq ft, when $10 (£7.50) is the average warehouse rent price in the US.
Both JC Penney and Sears have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the past year, with JC Penney filing in May 2020.
Amazon took on empty shopping malls in Ohio last year, converting two 700,000 sq ft spaces into distribution centres.
It is rumoured that Amazon will expand its Amazon Go format to the UK this year, as it continues its ventures into the grocery market.
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