Amazon started as an online bookstore in a garage

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in July 1994 in his garage in Bellevue, Washington, after quitting his Wall Street hedge fund job and driving cross-country while his wife wrote the business plan. He chose books because they came in a standard format, had universal demand, and there were too many titles for any physical store to stock. In the first month, Amazon sold books to buyers in all 50 US states and 45 countries. Bezos called the original concept the 'everything store' from day one — books were simply the beachhead.

Source: Stone, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon (2013)