Amazon has got to be more sensitive to the vicissitudes of the global economy though. I could never stop using Google or Apple products in my day-to-day. Whereas my entire life is pretty much an uphill battle to buy less shit off Amazon. If push came to shove, the MP3/book/DVD/gadget/clothing purchases would be the first to go. Also if it suddenly got a lot more expensive to ship physical goods, Amazon's core business would take a beating.
Those goods would still have to be shipped to a traditional store, where traditional staff drove in and stood around and dusted it, so you could drive (or whatever) in and get it.
As opposed to drop-shipping the most economical one on demand, and not wasting all the time and shipping stocking places, hoping you'll come in and buy from them before the junk is obsolete.
Stores, except tailors and the like, are dead.
As for their warehouses, cities expand and real-estate, especially when at rock-bottom, is a pretty safe bet compared to renting.
