Amazon.com moving corporate HQ

But only to another neighorhood in Seattle.

From a company news release:

SEATTLE - December 21, 2007 - The city of Seattle, Amazon.com, Vulcan Inc. and Schnitzer West today announced that Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood will be home to Amazon.com's new corporate headquarters.

"Amazon.com is one of those great Seattle success stories and I'm pleased the company has decided to stay right here in its hometown," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

The new headquarters will be on a bus line and will be eco-friendly. But what else would you expect from a company in the Pacific Northwest?

I should wait for more news to come out on this, but I have to wonder...

I visited Amazon.com headquarters in the spring of 2000, just after the company announced it would put its East Coast customer service office in beautiful downtown Huntington. Back then, the corporate offices were in a building known as Pac-Med, I think. What struck me was how company founder Jeff Bezos wanted to remind people of the company's roots in his garage. Most desks were doors supported on file cabinets. Everything was as unpretentious as it could be.

But with the move to the new, taller buildings, the question is whether Amazon is leaving its unpretentious roots behind.

FWIW, last month I made my first purchase from Amazon.com. Dealing with them, even when I had a complaint about the delivery of my order, was easy. They handled my complaint quickly and with a minimum of trouble.