Amazon Wins Business From Reluctant Brands After Virus Closes Stores

The company is attracting a range of vendors selling everything from fishing gear and art supplies to clothing and beach totes.

A worker carries Amazon boxes during a delivery in the Bronx, New York on March 26.Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg
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Geckobrands was wary of Amazon.com Inc. when it first started selling waterproof smartphone cases and other outdoor gear seven years ago. The Grandville, Michigan, company knew that getting too cozy with the world’s largest online retailer could alienate the brick-and-mortar stores with which it was trying to develop relationships. When the pandemic struck, Geckobrands products were in more than 3,000 locations, including Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., the supercenter chain Meijer Inc. and amusement park kiosks.