Seattle-based Amazon plans to close eight of its 29 Amazon Go cashierless convenience stores by April 1 in the company’s continued re-structuring of brick-and-mortar locations.
GeekWire reported the company plans to close two of the stores in Seattle, four in San Francisco, and two in New York.
““Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimization decisions along the way,” the company said in a statement. ““We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the U.S., and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we keep evolving our Amazon Go stores.”
Amazon Go launched in Seattle in 2016, serving as a pilot of the company’s Just Walk Out technology, which it has expanded to Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods locations. The company also sells the technology to other retail platforms.
GeekWire says the company plans to continue expanding the Amazon Go brand.
The closures follow Amazon shuttering two of its Amazon Fresh pickup-only sites, and a slowdown in store openings for the in-person store concept Amazon Fresh. In the past year, Amazon has also closed dozens of physical stores including Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star, and Amazon Pop-Up.
The company reportedly plans to focus on Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh, though it recently raised minimum order thresholds for grocery delivery.
