Amazon closes all Go and Fresh physical stores

The era of Amazon’s Go and Fresh physical stores is coming to an end, as the retail giant shifts its focus toward online grocery delivery and its established Whole Foods Market brand. In a significant strategic pivot, Amazon announced it will close the majority of its Go convenience stores and Fresh supermarkets. While the Amazon Fresh online grocery service will continue to operate, customers will no longer be able to shop at physical stores bearing those names. This move signals a recalibration of Amazon’s ambitious brick-and-mortar strategy, which has seen several experimental formats shuttered in recent years.

Instead of maintaining these standalone stores, Amazon plans to convert some of the locations into Whole Foods Market outlets. The company emphasized a strong commitment to expanding the Whole Foods footprint, with plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods Market stores in the coming years. Additionally, the company intends to launch five more of its smaller-format Whole Foods Market Daily Shop convenience stores before the year ends. This consolidation under the Whole Foods banner represents a clearer, more unified grocery strategy.

Despite closing these specific store formats, Amazon is not abandoning physical retail innovation altogether. The company stated it remains committed to testing new physical store experiences. It pointed to ongoing experiments like its Amazon Grocery store in Chicago and a unique Whole Foods concept store in Pennsylvania, where shoppers can also purchase Amazon devices and other products from the e-commerce platform. Furthermore, recent developments suggest broader ambitions may still be in play. Earlier this month, a proposal for a massive Walmart-style Amazon supercenter was approved in Orland Park, Illinois, indicating that large-scale, non-Whole Foods retail projects could still be part of the company’s future.

For customers, the most immediate change is the loss of the checkout-free shopping experience pioneered by Amazon Go and the physical Fresh supermarkets. However, Amazon is aiming to offset this by expanding its same-day delivery service for groceries and household essentials to more metropolitan areas over the next twelve months. This enhanced delivery network will be crucial for serving the customers who previously relied on these now-closing physical locations. The decision underscores a focus on logistics and delivery efficiency, areas where Amazon holds a dominant competitive advantage, over operating a sprawling network of company-owned grocery stores.

(Source: The Verge)