Online retailer Amazon.com announced the opening of four new stores, including one that will sell software.
The other stores will sell video games, gifts and home improvement products. The stores open this week, in time for the Christmas retail boom.
Amazon also announced the acquisition of Tool Crib of the North, a tools and equipment catalog company. Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed.
Amazon.com didn't purchase Tool Crib's chain of five retail tool and equipment stores in North Dakota and Minnesota, which remain privately held.
Customers can browse through eight categories including electrical and lighting, hardware, housewares, lawn and garden, outdoor living, painting supplies, plumbing and tools. Shipping for items from the home improvement site is $4.95 per item, regardless of size.