Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

The "just walk out" surveillance system sucked, but the Dash Cart shopping was actually pretty nice/

If we lived in a high trust society, you could just trust people to scan their own items and walk out.

Fortunately my Amazon branded subcutaneous chip still works at Wholefoods.

For about five years an Amazon Fresh in Seattle was literally my closest grocery store but I never once set foot in there, simply because it felt icky and dystopian to let Amazon any further into my life. I wonder how many others felt similarly.

Did the humans pretending to be the AI unionize?

this is pretty surprising. Didn't they spent a fortune on the camera tech for Amazon Go?

I don't know about other areas, but here in the Bay Area (or at least Silicon Valley) our Whole Foods has subsumed all the services provided by Amazon Fresh (and Go really never worked). So we're not really losing any services, just the brand name.

Amazon is losing its freshness

Oh no! Anyway

Not surprised at all

amazon fresh never really made much sense to me alongside wfm.

Once their vision for "grab and go" vanished due to technological infeasibility [1] the entire premise for the stores vanished as well.

I suspect that they wanted to take a hail marry to see if somehow it was possible to get much greater efficiency compared to standard grocers, and it looks like that failed.

[1] it may come back. The technology is rapidly improving but they have bigger fish to fry ATM.

It's a trap!

I honestly thought they closed them alreay.

Disappointing. The shopping experience is mediocre and prices/quality are no better than other local supermarkets.

However, I love my local Amazon Fresh store because it's a super convenient Amazon return location...

Curious thought - will they be shutting down other “just walk out” powered stuff like Hudson Nonstops in airports?

I also know some Amazon warehouses had an entire Just Walk Out powered concessions area in their breakroom for purchasing snacks in partnership with one of their canteen vendors.

I’m not surprised about Amazon Go but I’m surprised about Amazon Fresh.

They almost seemed like an extension of Whole Foods to a more mainstream suburban market, and I thought they had solid foot traffic.

I stopped into the Amazon Fresh in Broomall, PA, to check it out not too long ago. It just looks bland and dystopian from the outside, and not much about it is impressive from the inside. I've worked with computers and technology my whole life, and the entrance to the store just confused me. If I remember correctly, I had to scan the Amazon app on my phone to enter the building. Once inside, it felt like a warehouse; the aisles were too small, and the food selection wasn't even really that great. (From memory, it was a few years ago that I went)

All in all, it's a cool concept on paper with absolutely terrible execution.

Only went once, bought some snacks, and left.

Amazon keeps shutting Restaurants, their retail stores, etc., but I for one am glad they are at least trying. I agree that the fiasco around the Indians running the show was a PR nightmare for their idea, but large companies running startup like ideas should be encouraged rather than disparaged (and I am no fan of Amazon just to be clear). I think this is one of those ideas where execution failed. If you are a busy worker, it is great to just head there and grab what you need, and walk out. Just faster all around.

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