Amazon plans to open its largest store and enter the field of large-scale retailing.

Amazon is planning to open its largest retail store ever, with a plan to build a large physical store in the suburbs of Chicago that will surpass the typical Walmart store in size. Amazon said that about half of the space in the large store planned to open in Orland Park, Illinois, will be used to sell groceries, diapers, paper towels, and other daily essentials, as well as freshly prepared meals. The other half will be used to fulfill online and offline orders. The ecommerce giant has been trying for years to extend its online advantage into the physical retail sector but has yet to find a sustainable winning formula. Amazon has closed dozens of its own brand stores and more than half of its Amazon Go cashierless stores. Now, Amazon has set a grander goal to create a large store with an area of about 230,000 square feet - large enough to accommodate nearly two standard-sized Target stores. Amazon is already the largest ecommerce retailer in the United States. However, according to data from the US Census Bureau, even with the rapid growth of online shopping in the past 20 years, in-store shopping still accounts for more than 80% of retail sales. According to sources familiar with the matter, in addition to the location in Illinois, Amazon also plans to open other large stores in the United States.