Amazon will close all Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores

E-commerce giant Amazon has announced that it will close all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh offline stores, the company announced on its website on January 27.

Some of the closing stores are being converted into Whole Foods Market stores. Amazon said it plans to open more than 100 new stores under the brand over the next few years.

The company added that this year it will expand its same-day grocery delivery service, which is currently available in more than 5,000 US locations.

The Amazon Fresh brand, known for allowing shoppers to skip checkout lines when purchasing groceries, will continue to operate online in available regions, the company said.

Amazon did not say how many employees would be affected by the store closures. The company said it is working to help employees find other positions within Amazon.

• Both Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh are cashierless stores. The first automated Go supermarket without cash registers or sales assistants opened in 2018. Amazon opened its first Fresh stores in 2020, expanding the delivery network that has operated under the brand since 2007.
• Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh used Just Walk Out technology. According to the concept, the buyer takes the goods and leaves the store, while cameras with a built-in scanner count his purchases.
• However, in 2024, it was revealed that customers were being monitored via CCTV cameras by Amazon employees in India who were making online purchases. Due to the inefficiency of the technology, it was partially abandoned in favor of “smart carts” Dash Carts, which scan products themselves.
• As Reuters notes , Amazon is betting on developing Whole Foods Market as a luxury grocery brand to better compete with retailers like Walmart and Kroger, as well as delivery services like Instacart.