By Gus Saltonstall

Amazon Books opened Thursday on the third floor of the Time Warner Center Building in Columbus Circle — the seventh store of its kind in the United States and the first in New York.

There was a festive atmosphere at the opening, with people lining the walls outside the store waiting to get in and multiple television crews on site.

“The name Amazon draws people in,” said Richard Rensin, a retiree now living in Aruba, as he surveyed the scene, adding that the bookstore had a certain “panache.”

It is definitely not your father’s bookstore. The store holds some 3,000 titles and each book has its own space on the shelves with its cover facing out. Underneath each book is a review card with an Amazon.com customer rating and review. The overall experience is distinctly high-tech – and clearly designed to draw consumers into the Amazon Prime universe.

For instance, there is a barcode adjacent to the review card on every book so that customers with an Amazon Prime membership can use their smart phones to see the price of the book and receive a discount. The store only features books with a four stars or better rating on Amazon.com or Amazon.com bestsellers.

When asked why she decided to shop at Amazon Books, Atlanta resident Margaret Townsend replied, “I wanted to see how they would connect buying books to the IPhone experience.”

The layout of the store is much smaller than a long, winding Barnes & Nobles, but also larger than what one would usually associate with a cozy independent bookstore.

The books are mostly organized into typical sections — non-fiction, picture books, fiction classics, and so on. But Amazon Books has tried to add its own digital twist with sections like “Fiction Top Sellers in New York,” “About New York or by New Yorkers”, “Page Turners”, and “If You Like,” the latter being well-known bestsellers displayed alongside lesser-known titles that would appeal to the same reader.

There is also a section of the store that is just for Amazon’s electronic products. Customers can test out items such as the Kindle, Amazon Echo, Fire Television and Fire Tablet Lines.

Of course, the question remains whether or not New Yorkers will continue to flock to Amazon Books. But if the opening day is any indication, they are off to a high-speed start.

Photos by Gus Saltonstall.