[Darqref]

Fred Meyer is what I consider a grocery store or supermarket - they have more food than I normally find in a Super Target or Walmart, as well as clothing, some furniture, household items, etc. I don't think of them as a department store, since their "departments" are quite limited. I think the original store is local to the Pacific Northwest, but the whole chain is owned by Kroger, which also owns other grocers.

This week, they have featured the Sony on the front page of their weekly advertisement, and the store I normally use has it in stock. At this point, only silver, and only the 505 - and the department manager didn't even know about the other colors or devices, or that there were any competitors other than the Kindle. (grump)

At $299.00, it is certainly no more expensive than many TVs or game consoles that are also sold in the same department.

In many ways, I think this is good for ebooks in general, since it really helps to see the eInk before you understand what it means. The display had the buttons available, but it was fixed and could not be picked up, so you couldn't tell how light it was.

I don't think I'd ever expect Fred Meyer to sell ebooks, but this particular store has a reasonable paper book selection.