Amazon Fresh Back in Expansion Mode
Amazon appears to be lifting the finger off the pause button when it comes to its Amazon Fresh grocery banner. The company officially unveiled an Amazon Fresh store in the northwest Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights on July 25.
Located in a shopping center that once housed a Dominick’s supermarket, the Amazon Fresh at 325 E. Palatine Road is stocked with an array of grocery staples, fresh foods and prepared products. Customers can navigate aisles using the retailer’s signature Dash Cart, a tech-enabled cart that allows shoppers to scan items while they shop and avoid traditional checkout processes. Amazon removed its Just Walk Out technology from Amazon Fresh stores in the U.S. to focus on the smart carts. Just Walk Out is available in Amazon Go stores, Amazon Fresh stores in the UK, and over 170 third-party retailers globally.
To mark the grand opening in Arlington Heights, Amazon distributed gift cards to the first 100 shoppers, with varying amounts based on their spot in line. The organization also donated to a local nonprofit food pantry to bolster community ties.
This is the 10th Amazon Fresh store in the Chicago-area market. Amazon currently operates 18 brick and mortar namesake stores in California, two in Maryland, two in New Jersey, one in New York, two in Pennsylvania, five in Virginia and four in Washington state.
The opening reflects Amazon’s aim to refocus its physical store presence. Additional store openings are planned for the Philadelphia area, in the cities of Middletown and Bensalem, and in the Washington, D.C. market in the Potomac Yard Shopping Center.
A few months ago, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy doubled down on its commitment to food retailing, dubbing the reimagined Amazon Fresh stores as the V2 (version 2) iteration. “We've launched our V2 format in physical stores over the last few months, primarily in Chicago and Southern California,” he said during the first quarter earnings. “We like the early results a lot. They're really meaningfully better in almost every dimension. It's still early, and there's some things to work through, but we like what we're seeing there.”
The retail giant is following its test-and-learn philosophy with another format, the Whole Foods Market Daily Shop. The store under the Whole Foods umbrella banner is slated to open in New York City later this year.
Amazon is set to report its second quarter earnings on Aug. 1.
Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. The company's Whole Foods banner has more than 500 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. PG named both companies as its Retailers of the Century.
