Western Grocer Serving the industry since 1916
Amazon said it is closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores as the retail giant sharpens its focus on grocery delivery, Whole Foods Market and a new ‘supersized’ store concept.
The Seattle-based company said in a blog post on Tuesday that some of the soon-to-be shuttered locations will be converted into Whole Foods Market stores.
Amazon currently operates 57 Amazon Fresh stores and 15 Amazon Go locations.
‘While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion,’ the company said.
Amazon said customers can continue to shop Amazon Fresh online in some areas for ‘fast and convenient delivery’.
The final day of operation for Fresh and Go stores will be February 1, with the exception of locations in California, which will remain open longer to comply with state requirements.
Since Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market in 2017, the grocery chain has seen more than 40 percent sales growth and expanded to more than 550 locations.
Amazon now plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods stores over the next few years.
