Amazon opens first full-size cashless grocery store
Retailer's 10,400-square-foot space is opening Tuesday in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood
Amazon is taking its grab-and-go convenience store concept a step further, opening its first full-size cashless grocery store with what it calls "walk out technology."
It's been roughly two years since Amazon began to reinvent America's grocery shopping experience by eliminating cashiers, registers and, most importantly, cash.
Starting Tuesday, the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle will now be privy to the retailer's 10,400-square-feet space stocked with fresh food, ready-made meals and household essentials. The store offers a variety of beef, pork, poultry, seafood, artisan breads, cheese and baked goods, in addition to beer, wine, and liquor.
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Shoppers will be able to take food off the shelves and just walk out. Amazon's technology charges customers after they leave. In order to shop, customers must have a smartphone with the Amazon Go app. This process is mimicked in the roughly two dozen other Amazon Go locations nationwide.
The company previously said it uses computer vision, machine learning algorithms, and sensors to figure out what people are grabbing off its store shelves.
The store is yet another sign that Amazon is serious about expanding its physical presence. It has opened more than a dozen bookstores, taken over space in some Kohl's department stores and bought Whole Foods in 2017.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 207.89 | +2.15 | +1.05% |
Amazon employees began testing the Amazon Go concept with a 1,800 square feet space, resembling that of a convince store, at the bottom floor of the company's Seattle headquarters, before it opened to the public in January 2018.
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The company had announced the Amazon Go store in December 2016 and said it would open by early 2017, but it delayed the debut while it worked on the technology and company employees tested it out. By lunchtime on day one, however, Amazon's no-lines hope was thwarted, at least outside the store: There were at least 50 people waiting to enter, in a line that stretched around the corner.
To date, the company currently has Amazon Go locations in Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco and New York City.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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