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General Growth Properties ( GGP ) CEO Sandeep Mathrani has indicated that a statement he made concerning Amazon during GGP’s earnings conference call Tuesday was not intended to represent Amazon’s plans, GGP said in a statement released after the close Wednesday. There was no further immediate information. Amazon.com ( AMZN ) has a goal of opening 300 to 400 brick-and-mortar stores “as I understand,” Mathrani said on that call Tuesday. The CEO of the shopping mall developer indicated in that call that Amazon’s plans may disrupt existing bookstore chains such as still-struggling Barnes & Noble ( BKS ). Amazon nor General Growth Properties have returned requests for comment. Despite the problems that Barnes & Noble and other large chain stores are having, the New York Times reported that independent booksellers are experiencing sales growth in “many parts of the country, showing how reluctant some book fans have been to give up browsing store shelves.” Amazon’s first bookstore, opened in the University Village shopping mall in Seattle, features thousands of books — at the same price as on Amazon’s website — as well as some of the gadgets that Amazon produces, including the Kindle tablet, Fire TV and Echo virtual assistant. The Times also reported that Amazon re-hired Jennifer Cast, an early executive and confidant of CEO Jeff Bezos, to preside over the bookstore in Seattle. Amazon-owned footwear business Zappos also has experimented with retail stores in the U.S. Scalper1 News
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