Amazon Fresh Expands Beyond California

The first Amazon Fresh store outside of California is set to open Dec. 10 in the Chicago suburbs.

The 35,000-square-foot store, located in Naperville, Illinois, will become the fifth Amazon Fresh location. Amazon also plans another store for the Chicago suburbs, this one in Schaumburg. 

The Fresh banner is not an offshoot of Whole Foods, nor does it look like one of those checkout-less Amazon Go stores that have been popping up in urban areas across the United States, nor does it look like the 365 banner that Amazon scrapped last year either.

The new Amazon Fresh supermarket takes elements of all of those concepts — micro-fulfillment, contactless features, a curated assortment of premium and conventional products, and highly personalized service — and melds them into one innovative store that offers something for every type of food shopper, from low-touch cashierless checkout to high-touch made-to-order prepared foods. This is a store that is designed to appeal to a shopper looking for the best of everything: the best product mix, the best technology and the best shopping experience.

The other Amazon Fresh stores are located in Southern California — Northridge, Woodland Hills, Irvine and North Hollywood.

At the new Naperville location, Amazon will offer such deals as 15 cent bananas; 89 cent freshly baked bread; $1.79 freshly baked pizza slices; $4.97 rotisserie chickens; $2.69 for a 12-pack of Coca-Cola; buy one get one free Frito-Lay chips (7.75-9.75 oz.); $1.49/lb. for organic Opal apples; $1.99/lb. bone-in Smithfield half hams; and $2.99 Southern Comfort vanilla eggnog (32 oz.).

Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on Progressive Grocer’s 2020 PG 100 list of the top grocers in the United States.