Would You Like Fries With That? -- Amazon Sells Groceries
- by Michael Stillman
In an email, Amazon informs us they are now selling groceries.
By Michael Stillman
Amazon.com, the world's best-known bookselling site, recently expanded its offerings with the announcement that they would now be selling groceries online. In a letter from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos published on their site, he noted that during the test phase, people have been "ordering everything from Kashi cereal to Jiffy Pop popcorn." Maybe, but a click to their grocery store brought up a page featuring Special K cereal and Orville Redenbacher's popcorn. That hardly scratches the surface. There are at least six brands of tuna, five more of anchovies, ten of mustard, six of pepper, fourteen of salt (who needs fourteen brands of salt?), eight potato chips, nine of diapers (did you know there is a diaper brand called "Tushies?"), five of macaroni and cheese, and four of batteries. In all, Amazon tells us they have 14,000 nonperishable food and household items.
Jeff tells us, "My kids are thrilled to have Annie's Mac & Cheese delivered right to our door." I wouldn't be. That stuff must have a million calories and enough fat to reconstitute a whale. "As if it weren't already a staple of their diet," he notes, "yesterday they asked if they could have some for breakfast." I think my daughter has asked that too. Another reason not to buy groceries from Amazon.
I'm old enough to remember when Amazon was a bookselling site. Seems like ages ago. I guess there isn't anything they don't sell today. Their home page is a cacophony of changing items, as it tries to remember who I am, and what I want right now, versus ten seconds from now, when it will give me a different set of choices. Were it not for its reputation, I doubt I would have any idea that this is a bookselling site. Obviously this works for Amazon, and their rollout of groceries after a trial run means that they will probably sell lots of them as well. They clearly are not book people, but they are astute businessmen. I may prefer the old Amazon, but I certainly can understand why they would go where the dollars lead them. After all, how many booksellers would refuse to carry mac and cheese if their customers wanted to buy it from them?
So I got to Amazon's home page after reading Jeff Bezos' letter, and do you know what they have waiting for me? Seriously. They must remember that my interest is in books, and my daughter mac and cheese, because there waiting for me is a copy of Macaroni And Cheese, a book by Marlena Spieler. I can now eat and read about mac and cheese at the same time. But I personally cannot stand the stuff, so why would I want to do either?
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
