Amazon's New Grocery Store to Include Robotic Ecommerce Fulfillment

Amazon is set to open its first store of a highly anticipated new grocery chain in Woodland Hills, Calif., later this month. Last week, some photos from inside the location were made public, and now HNGRY's Matt Newberg has discovered the location's floorplans attached to alcohol permits with the City of Los Angeles 

The floorplans show an automated micro fulfillment center along the perimeter of the store, with hours of operation from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Newberg and his HNGRY project have confirmed Amazon is working with Atlanta-based software company Dematic on the 7,200-square-foot robotic picking area, which will occupy 21% of the 33,574-square-foot store, although the company would not confirm if this is true.

Dematic is already working with food industry redistributor Dot Foods on an automated warehouse in Mt. Sterling, Ill., and other grocers are embracing the microfulfillment model. Miami-based Hispanic grocer Sedano’s; Wakefern Food Corp. banner ShopRite, operating in the Northeast; Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons; and Ahold Delhaize USA banner Stop & Shop are just a few. 

Seattle-based Amazon, under its Whole Foods Market banner, is No. 10 on Progressive Grocer’s 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.