Amazon Makes Major Grocery Store Decision
Amazon is constantly looking to improve its retail experience, and that includes its brick-and-mortar grocery locations. The Amazon Fresh and Go stores have been a staple of the company's business strategy for the last several years, but the retailer is set to move in a different direction.
The Amazon Fresh and Go stores will be sunset over the next several months in an effort to turn them into Whole Foods locations.
“After a careful evaluation of the business and how we can best serve customers, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores, converting various locations into Whole Foods Market stores,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Amazon will keep its Fresh delivery service for users on the main app, allowing the company to compete with apps like Instacart and DoorDash.
"We're grateful to our team members for their many contributions over the years and are working whenever possible to help them find roles elsewhere in Amazon, including across our vast operations network, as we make this transition," the statement reads.
Amazon will open 100 new Whole Foods locations within the next several years, and it also plans to expand its Whole Foods Daily Shops - mini-markets with specialized offerings for customers looking to save time.
Amazon Prioritizes Grocery Industry
Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017, spending $13.7 billion to purchase the organic-focused grocery chain. The sale was part of Amazon's continued effort to break into the grocery space after dominating many other areas of online commerce.
Amazon's Go stores opened in 2018, and the Fresh stores first opened in 2020. Stores were built to allow customers to walk in and take items from the shelves, with sensors and cameras installed to determine the cost of their carts.
As they left the store, the amount of their groceries would simply be deducted from their Amazon account and preferred method of payment.
Retail Stores Moving Forward at Amazon
At the time, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos touted the stores for their technology.
“No one likes to wait in line,” Bezos told shareholders in 2018. “Instead, we imagined a store where you could walk in, pick up what you wanted, and leave.” The checkout-free technology was removed from the company's grocery stores in 2024, turning them into more traditional brick-and-mortar locations.
Moving forward, Amazon says that it is committed to developing more in-person shopping opportunities, including the "store within a store" concept currently on trial in Pennsylvania. Customers are able to shop for groceries while also picking up household essentials, all in one location.
Amazon says that its efforts continue to "develop a mass physical store format that brings customers distinctive selection, value, and convenience."