Orland Park, Illinois – Amazon is entering the big-box retail space with a new 225,000-square-foot store planned for Orland Park, a village in Cook County, Illinois, just outside Chicago. This marks Amazon’s first retail location designed to rival Walmart’s supercenters, which typically average around 179,000 square feet. The proposed store, which will be situated near a Costco, will offer a diverse range of products, including groceries, household essentials, and general merchandise, with an emphasis on affordability.
The new retail concept, described by Amazon as “a new concept that we think customers will be excited about,” will showcase the company’s latest attempt to expand its physical retail presence. While Amazon has ventured into brick-and-mortar retail with mixed results, this new venture promises to combine groceries and general merchandise, a format that has been highly successful for Walmart for decades.
Blending Groceries with General Merchandise
Amazon’s expansion into the grocery market has been ongoing since the launch of Amazon Fresh in 2020, but its physical stores have faced challenges. The new store in Orland Park, however, appears to be a more strategic move, combining the success of Amazon’s online marketplace with in-store experiences. Customers will be able to shop for fresh groceries alongside the millions of items available on Amazon.com, thanks to same-day delivery services for perishables, which Amazon rolled out in 2025.
This new store will not only cater to grocery shoppers but will also include household items and general merchandise, positioning it as a one-stop shopping destination. The store will feature dedicated parking for pickup orders and plans to include smaller commercial outlets for local businesses. These features aim to improve the customer experience and bring a more integrated shopping model to Amazon’s physical locations.
A Competitive Move Against Walmart
This move pits Amazon directly against Walmart, which has long dominated the big-box retail and grocery space. In 2025, Walmart reported $276 billion in net sales from food and beverage items alone, far surpassing Amazon’s grocery business, which topped $100 billion in 2024. With this new concept, Amazon hopes to close the gap and capitalize on its growing grocery sales, which now serve over 150 million people in the U.S.
Amazon has experimented with various retail formats in the past, including bookstores, apparel stores, and its Amazon Fresh chain, but these ventures have had mixed success. However, the e-commerce giant has continued to refine its retail approach, incorporating lessons learned from previous efforts and exploring new technologies like micro-fulfillment centers in its Whole Foods stores.
New Leadership and Future Growth
The new store is part of Amazon’s ongoing strategy to increase its footprint in the physical retail sector. The company has struggled to make its physical stores as successful as its e-commerce operations but has continuously innovated with concepts like Amazon Go and small-format stores. The Orland Park location represents a major shift in Amazon’s strategy, positioning the company to compete head-to-head with established retailers like Walmart.
The store is still in the approval stages, with plans set for further review by the Orland Park Village Board. If approved, Amazon’s new store will be a significant addition to its retail strategy and could mark the beginning of a new wave of large-scale Amazon retail locations across the U.S.
