Amazon is planning on opening a bricks-and-mortar distribution centre that will be open to the public, with the aim of helping holiday shoppers.

The store will reportedly function as a mini-warehouse, with inventory for same-day delivery within New York, and enable customers to return products, process exchanges and pick up online orders.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon may also use the space to showcase its hardware products, such as the Kindle, Fire smartphone and Fire TV. The company has trialled pop-up shops in the past, with Kindle vending machines placed in malls across the US last year, but a large physical store in New York would represent a considerable financial gamble for the company.

The plans have not been confirmed by the company, and may still be abandoned, but should a physical store prove a success for the retailer, it is likely that more bricks-and-mortar locations would be opened across the US, and possibly beyond.