Amazon May Look to M&A Again to Expand Its Real Estate Footprint, and One Company Could Be Its "Target"

June 20, 2026 - 21:54

The retail world may be entering a new phase of mergers and acquisitions driven by a simple problem: there is not enough good real estate available. Finding sites for large stores is difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Companies that want to grow their brick-and-mortar presence may decide it is easier to buy an existing chain than to build from scratch.

Amazon wants to expand its physical retail footprint. But over the past several years, the company shut down most of its homegrown concepts including Amazon Books, Amazon Go convenience stores, and Amazon Fresh grocery stores. Its most successful move into brick-and-mortar retail came through acquisition: the 2017 purchase of Whole Foods Market.

Earlier this year, Amazon started a new experiment. The company is developing an extra large Big Box store in Metro Chicago that spans roughly 230,000 square feet. The store will sell groceries and general merchandise, putting it in direct competition with Walmart. But even if this ultra Big Box store succeeds, scaling it nationally will be a challenge. There are few well-located development sites or second-generation properties available.

That is why Amazon may turn to M&A again. One company stands out as an ideal target: Target. The retailer operates about 2,000 Big Box stores located within 10 miles of roughly 75 percent of the U.S. population. Target owns about 85 percent of its retail real estate, making it especially attractive. At Target's current enterprise value of roughly 70 billion dollars, an acquisition would likely be a good real estate deal on its own.

Regulatory hurdles make such a deal highly unlikely. But the logic is clear. Even if an Amazon and Target deal never happens, expect more retailer M&A driven by online-oriented companies that want to buy real estate rather than build it.