Amazon will permanently close eight of the 29 Amazon Go convenience stores that offer customers shopping without a checkout process.
The store was supposed to benefit both the customer and the company. The Amazon Go store allows for maximum convenience. After a customer purchases the item they want, they can walk past a scanner that registers the purchase without checking out or scanning the item. It also eliminated the need for staff his position and improved Amazon’s bottom line.
Amazon debuted a Go store in Seattle in 2016. Amazon has hailed stores as the future of shopping, especially for convenience stores in busy downtown areas of large cities. Amazon once expected hundreds, if not thousands, of stores across the country, according to a public report, but the company has not confirmed. But they never lived up to their expectations.
But the closure, first reported by Geekwire, is another sign of cost-cutting efforts at the online shopping giant. Last week, Amazon announced it was pausing construction on its second headquarters in Northern Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. In January, it confirmed plans to cut 18,000 jobs from its global workforce.
“Like any physical retailer, we regularly evaluate our store portfolio and make optimization decisions along the way. has decided to shut down,” Amazon said in an email. “We remain committed to the Amazon Go format and operate over 20 Amazon Go stores nationwide, and as we continue to evolve our Amazon Go stores, we continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with our customers. The company said it will continue to open Amazon Go stores, including one recently in Seattle and one in the Tacoma suburb of Puyallup, Washington.
Store closures include two stores in struggling Seattle that were already temporarily closed, leaving five stores in the city. In addition, we plan to close two in New York City and four in San Francisco. In addition to the remaining 21 Amazon Go stores, there are two stores in New York that the brand shares with Starbucks.
In addition to Amazon Go stores, Amazon is piloting checkout-free technology at select Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh stores.
