Amazon steals Walmart’s playbook with massive big-box store near Chicago

Amazon is moving ahead with plans to open a superstore in suburban Illinois that would be bigger than your typical Walmart location, officials confirmed over the weekend.

The online retail giant has filed paperwork to build a 229,000-square-foot retail spot in Orland Park, a community southwest of Chicago. The single-level building would stock food items, everyday household products, and various other goods, according to information the city released on Saturday. For comparison, standard Walmart Supercenters measure around 179,000 square feet.

The facility will have warehouse space to help run daily operations and an area where delivery workers can grab customer orders, municipal planning files show.

A company representative confirmed the project in a statement to CNBC, saying Amazon frequently tries out fresh ideas meant to improve how people shop. The Orland Park location is a new store format they think people will like.

The Seattle-based company has worked to expand its physical store presence after taking ground from traditional retailers. Its biggest purchase came in 2017 when it bought the premium grocery chain Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion.

Amazon has opened locations selling books, set up kiosks in shopping centers, tried clothing boutiques, launched quick-stop shops, and started its own supermarket brand over the years. Many of these efforts have been shut down or put on pause since then.

Local planning officials approved Amazon’s application during a Tuesday session. The proposal now goes to the village board for a final decision at a meeting set for Jan. 19.

The new building would replace Petey’s II, a neighborhood restaurant that closed in January 2024. The property sits where two main roadways meet in Orland Park, near a Target, Costco, and Trader Joe’s, along with other well-known stores.

Some community members have raised traffic concerns, worrying about increased congestion near the site, local television station NBC 5 Chicago reported.

Borrowing from traditional retail playbook

A spokesperson told Business Insider the project represents another way the company is testing methods to make shopping easier for customers.

The concept isn’t exactly new. These types of big-box stores have been around in the United States since 1988, when Walmart introduced its first Supercenter format near St. Louis. Today, Walmart runs about 4,600 locations across the country.

Amazon already has various types of physical stores, though they’re generally smaller. Current operations include 58 Amazon Fresh supermarkets, 14 Go quick-service locations, and more than 500 Whole Foods Markets nationwide.

Company figures show over 150 million American consumers bought groceries through Amazon in 2024, bringing in sales exceeding $100 billion.

While existing Amazon stores focus heavily on food, the new Orland Park plan calls for a wider product mix. That means adding items like home goods and clothing that grocery shoppers might want to grab.

The move comes as conventional retailers such as Walmart and Target strengthen their online operations, while Amazon borrows strategies from traditional store-based selling.

Rush pickup service in development

On a separate front, the company is working on a “rush” collection service that would let shoppers grab their purchases at Amazon-operated stores within 60 minutes, according to internal paperwork and someone familiar with the plans.

The service would let customers order from both Amazon’s website inventory and items available inside Amazon’s physical locations, documents show. A test run is planned for at least one metro area by early 2026, though the timeline could change, according to the source who asked not to be identified.

The program would build on Amazon’s push for really fast delivery times. Just last week, the company started Amazon Now, offering 30-minute delivery in parts of Seattle and Philadelphia. Similar quick-delivery tests are happening in the United Kingdom, India, and Mexico.

Right now, pickup options at Amazon include next-day collection for some web orders. Grocery program members can pick up certain products in as little as 30 minutes.

Click-and-collect market booming

Store pickup services, what people call “click-and-collect,” are growing fast. American sales through these services should hit $112.96 billion this year, a 17% jump from 2023, and climb to $129.33 billion by 2027, research firm eMarketer projects. The firm estimates about 152.9 million Americans, or 68% of online buyers, will use click-and-collect in 2025.

Amazon dominates total online sales, but Walmart might have an edge when it comes to delivery speed. With more than 4,600 American stores, Walmart can reach about 95% of households within three hours. Walmart leads click-and-collect with projected sales of $38.50 billion this year, eMarketer data shows.

Internal documents seen by Business Insider suggest Amazon sees the rush pickup service as addressing what customers want, quicker access to products, while making better use of its stores and shipping networks. The pilot program will help figure out whether people actually want rapid pickup and how to blend online and in-store shopping, documents stated.

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