Amazon Treasure Truck

Amazin’ deals on Amazon wheels

Get ready for a new way to shop. The Amazon Treasure Truck is rolling into 8 Irvine shopping centers with specials that range from filet mignon to Italian leather handbags to virtual reality headsets.

Get ready for a new way to shop. The Amazon Treasure Truck is rolling into 8 Irvine shopping centers with specials that range from filet mignon to Italian leather handbags to virtual reality headsets.

Download the Amazon app, and you’ll receive a text whenever the truck is in town, announcing the day’s special. You can order it on your smart phone, and pick it up a few hours later at the truck — a rolling jukebox, bubble-blowing machine and backdrop for cool selfies.

“I love it for the discounts of 40–50% off,” said Mariel Meade, of Westpark Village, while buying a Star Wars “Porg” toy for her son, Liam, 4. “And he loves to play with the bubbles.”

Amazon’s first Treasure Truck appeared in Seattle in 2015. It’s grown to a fleet of 30 trucks in 27 major cities.

Its presence in Irvine adds to Amazon’s strong ties to the city — with a Spectrum office employing about 1,200, and a University Center storefront that is the first in Orange County.

Shoppers don’t know when or where the truck will pop up next — or what special it will offer — until they get a text alert. That’s part of the fun.

“It’s entertaining,” said Nicole Elkind, after her son Niko, 2, got some free gum, stickers and a chance to play with a Star Wars toy light sabre. “I can take him to this and he thinks he went to Disneyland.”