An Amazon Effect

Reaction to the online giant Amazon’s announcement last week that it would develop one of two new East Coast headquarters in Long Island City has largely been along two lines of thought: What would it do to Queens, and did the city and state give away too much in tax breaks to reel in the company. A lot has been said about New York City’s deep pool of professional and tech talent, as well as the cultural attractions that might keep Amazon’s staff happy. 

Nothing much has been said yet, to our knowledge, about that other big draw for city dwellers, the East End of Long Island. It might be that one of the important factors Amazon considered was what its higher-level employees could do on the weekends. Buffalo? Tampa? Clearly, Jeff Bezos didn’t think so.

The Amazon work force’s average age is 31, according to a 2017 estimate. We might be half-serious pointing this out, but 25,000 new well-paying jobholders still in their party-hearty years less than 100 miles from East Hampton would be no small thing. Look out, Montauk, it’s clear enough where these folks in their helicopters, seaplanes, and self-driving Ubers are going to be headed. 

Having sucked the vitality out of the United States retail scene, the company’s minions are now going to be filling our beaches and clogging the longboard lineup at Ditch.

Welcome, Amazon, indeed. East Hampton: What are you going to do to get ready?