Amazon opens a brick-and-mortar bookstore; Twitter embraces the irony

The bookselling world was shocked Monday when the Seattle Times reported that Amazon, the online retailer, would be opening a brick-and-mortarbookstore Tuesday in Seattle's University Village shopping center, not far from indie retailer Third Place Books.

"There is some irony in Amazon’s opening a physical store," the Times noted. "For years, it could undercut physical retailers on pricebecause it didn’t have brick-and-mortar locations."

The irony was not lost on some Twitter users:

Some users suggested ways to engage with the new store:

There's no telling how the bookstore will be received by Seattle residents, but the reception in the literary world on Twitter can besummed up by one tweet: