Amazon may be preparing to make its most ambitious move yet in brick-and-mortar retail, with plans for a Walmart-style supercenter that blends traditional shopping with its logistics backbone. On Tuesday, the Orland Park Plan Commission in the Chicago suburb of Orland Park, Illinois, voted 6–1 to approve Amazon’s proposal to develop a 35-acre site into a massive 229,000-square-foot retail complex, according to a report by The Information. While the project is still subject to further approvals, the vote signals serious momentum behind the idea.
The proposed facility would function as a full-scale physical supercenter, selling groceries, general merchandise, and prepared foods, while also operating as an Amazon fulfillment center. Conceptually, it resembles a department store with a warehouse attached, allowing Amazon to merge in-person shopping with its e-commerce and logistics operations. Customers would reportedly be able to pick up Amazon orders on-site, potentially turning the location into both a retail destination and a local distribution hub.
This move stands in stark contrast to Amazon’s recent pullback from physical retail. In 2022, the company closed all 68 of its brick-and-mortar bookstores, Amazon 4-star stores, and Pop Up locations. That retrenchment continued in 2023, when Amazon shut down both of its Amazon Style clothing stores. In recent years, the company’s physical retail presence has largely revolved around Whole Foods Market, which it acquired in 2017.
Despite those closures, the Orland Park proposal suggests Amazon may not be done experimenting with physical retail after all. Instead of smaller, specialized storefronts, the company appears to be exploring a large-format model that tightly integrates shopping, fulfillment, and order pickup. If built, the supercenter could offer a glimpse into Amazon’s next attempt to bridge the gap between online dominance and physical retail scale.
