SEATTLE — Amazon will close one of its Amazon Fresh stores in Seattle this weekend, a spokesperson for the retail giant confirmed Wednesday.
Jessica Martin, a spokesperson for Amazon, said the company is closing its Amazon Fresh store in Capitol Hill on Sunday, April 7. Martin said all of the store's employees were offered roles at nearby Fresh stores.
Martin said the company will focus on selectively opening new Amazon Fresh stores as they receive feedback on their redesigned stores.
“Over the last year, we’ve redesigned a number of our full-sized Amazon Fresh stores, offering a better overall shopping experience by bringing in an expanded selection, low prices on even more grocery items, and greater convenience with updated checkout options such as Amazon Dash Cart," Martin said. "We’re pleased to see those changes resonating with customers through higher satisfaction scores and increased purchasing. To focus on selectively opening new Amazon Fresh stores as we see positive customer feedback on the new format, we are closing our smaller Amazon Fresh store in Seattle.”
After the Capitol Hill store closure, Amazon will have four Fresh stores across western Washington.
Other Amazon Fresh locations:
- Factoria, 3901 Factoria Square Mall SE, Bellevue, WA 98006
- Federal Way, 1701 S Commons. Federal Way, WA 98003
- Seattle - Aurora, 13201 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133
- Seattle - Jackson St, 2301 S. Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98144
Amazon announced on Wednesday it will remove its Just Walk Out technology from its Fresh stores as part of an effort to revamp the grocery chain.
The company’s well-known technology lets customers pay for items without standing in line and sends them receipts afterward. Amazon said it will be replaced by smart carts that allow customers to skip the checkout line while seeing their spending in real-time.
While redesigning Fresh stores in the past year, Amazon spokesperson Carly Golden said the company heard from customers who enjoy skipping the checkout line but wanted to view their receipts and savings as they shopped. Golden said the smart carts will give customers these benefits and the convenience of skipping the checkout line.
Seattle-based Amazon operates dozens of Fresh grocery stores across the country, most of which are in California, Illinois, Virginia and Washington state. The company also operates cashier-free convenience stores under the Amazon Go brand and owns Whole Foods, which it purchased in 2017 for $13.7 billion.