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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Founded | December 2016; 9 years ago (2016-12) Seattle,Washington, U.S. |
| Defunct | February 1, 2026; 18 days ago (2026-02-01) |
| Fate | Closed by parent company |
Number of locations | 43[1] (2024) |
Area served | |
| Parent | Amazon |
| Website | amazon |
Amazon Go was a chain ofconvenience stores in the United States and the United Kingdom, operated by the online retailerAmazon. The stores werecashierless, thus partiallyautomated (having an added option in some locations to manually checkout if desired), with customers having the ability to purchase products without being checked out by a cashier or using aself-checkout station.[2][3] In 2023, there were 43 open and announced store locations inSeattle,Chicago,Los Angeles,London andNew York City.[1]
Amazon Go stores were conceptualized and tested by a team of Amazon executives, who constructed a 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) mock supermarket in a rented warehouse in Seattle, before revealing the work to Amazon founderJeff Bezos in 2015.[1] The first store, located in the company'sDay 1 building, opened to employees on December 5, 2016, and to the public on January 22, 2018. Theflagship store sells products such as prepared foods,meal kits, limited groceries and liquor.[4] A larger variant, Amazon Go Grocery, opened in Seattle'sCapitol Hill neighborhood on February 25, 2020. The following month Amazon began to offer its technology to other retailers so that their customers could make purchases without the involvement of cashiers or Amazon accounts.[5]
On January 27, 2026, Amazon announced it would close all Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, and shifting on expandingWhole Foods operations. Most locations are scheduled to close by February 1, 2026.[6][7]
Amazon described Go stores to have used several technologies, includingcomputer vision,deep learning algorithms, andsensor fusion for the purchase, checkout, and payment steps associated with a retail transaction,[8] which was later revealed to be supported remotely by a team of people in India.[9] The store concept is seen as a revolutionary model that relies on the prevalence of smartphones andgeofencing technology to streamline the customer experience, as well assupply chain andinventory management.[10] However, public rollout of the Seattle Amazon Go prototype location was delayed due to issues with the sensors' ability to track multiple users or objects within the store,[11] such as when children move items to other shelves or when multiple customers have a similarbody habitus.[12]
The Amazon Go app foriOS andAndroid links to their Amazon account and is the primary method of paying for items at the store, alongside cash at certain locations. The app is required to enter the store, which hasturnstiles that scan aQR code generated on the app.[13][14] The app allows users to add others to their Amazon account, so a family's purchases can be charged to the same bill.[15] The ceiling of the store has multiple cameras and store shelves have weight sensors, to detect which item(s) a customer took.[16] If a customer takes an item off the shelf, it will be added to the customer's virtual cart. Similarly, if a customer places an item back on the shelf, it is removed from the customer's virtual cart.
As of March 2024[update], there are 22 store locations in the United States[17] and 20 in the United Kingdom.
| # | City and state | Date of first store | Number of stores | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle,Washington | January 22, 2018 | 7 | |
| 2 | Chicago,Illinois | September 17, 2018 | 5 | |
| 4 | New York City,New York | May 7, 2019 | 7 | |
| 5 | London,United Kingdom (branded asAmazon Fresh) | March 4, 2021 | 20 | |
| 6 | Los Angeles County,California | November 1, 2022 | 3 | |
| Total | 43 | [25] |
Amazon Go's cashierless layout and technology, branded as "Just Walk Out", is also used incashierless stores with other brands and inside facilities such as airports and sports venues.[26][27]
In its report on the opening of the first location,The Wall Street Journal said that Amazon planned to open at least three stores, each with a different format.[28] In October 2016,Business Insider reported that they had seen internal Amazon documents detailing plans to open as many as 2,000 stores over the next ten years.[29] This was refuted by an Amazon spokesman, who insisted the company was still learning.[30][31]
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The Verge reported that the first store was scheduled to open to the public in early January 2017, preceded by a December 2016beta version for Amazon employees only.[3] At 1,800 square feet (170 m2) it was only the size of a corner convenience store.[28] By October 2017, the store had yet to open to the public due to issues with the technology tracking over 20 people at one time.[32] The public opening finally took place on January 22, 2018.[33]
In addition to stocking name brands and local brands, the store sells many ofAmazon's house brands, such as Wickedly Prime and 365.[34] A secondDowntown Seattle location at theMadison Centre opened on August 27, 2018.[35][36] The third Amazon Go store, at the Troy Block complex inSouth Lake Union, is the second largest at 2,100 square feet (200 m2) and opened in September 2018.[37]
In May 2018,The Seattle Times reported that Amazon was planning to open Amazon Go stores inChicago andSan Francisco;[38] and in September, it was confirmed that the company planned to open a store inNew York City.[39] In September 2018, Amazon Go opened its first location outside of Seattle at the company's offices in theChicago Loop.[40] That same month,Bloomberg News reported Amazon was considering plans to open as many as 3,000 Amazon Go locations across the United States by 2021.[41] An Amazon Go location was opened in San Francisco on October 23, 2018, at 98 Post Street.[42]
In response to potential discrimination against low-income people,San Francisco,Philadelphia, andNew Jersey have passed legislation banning cashless stores and retailers.[43] A new Amazon Go store inNew York City opened on May 7, 2019, with cash acceptance in response to previous criticism over the use of app-only purchases and its effects on the poor.[44] In response to the legislation, stores in San Francisco also accept cash, with an attendant at the front letting in and checking out customers if they do not have the app.[14]
On February 25, 2020, Amazon opened the first Amazon Go Grocery store in Seattle'sCapitol Hill neighborhood. The Go Grocery store is significantly larger than other Go stores, at 10,400 square feet (970 m2), and offers 5,000 items, including freshproduce and baked goods.[45][46] A second Go Grocery location opened in September 2020 in theOverlake neighborhood ofRedmond, Washington.[47][48]
In 2023, Amazon announced it would close eight Amazon Go stores in Seattle, New York City and San Francisco.[49]
On April 4, 2024, it was revealed that Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology was supported by approximately 1,000 Indian workers who manually reviewed transactions. Despite claims of being fully automated through computer vision, a significant portion of transactions required this manual verification. Additionally, Amazon announced plans to replace the "Just Walk Out" technology with Dash Carts in Amazon Fresh stores, aiming to enhance customer experience with features like locating products and viewing receipts in real-time.[9]
Two days after The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon plans to open "more than 2,000 brick-and-mortar grocery stores under its name," the company knocked down the idea as false.
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