Amazon Go expands beyond hometown with Chicago location
According to the Chicago Tribune, Amazon has opened an Amazon Go cashierless store in downtown Chicago this week.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Amazon has opened an Amazon Go cashierless store in downtown Chicago this week. The e-commerce giant spent more than a year testing the cashierless convenience store concept with employees near company headquarters before opening the first Amazon Go to the public in January in Seattle. The 2,000-sq-ft Chicago store is the company’s fourth but its first outside its hometown of Seattle.
Customers must scan an app on their smartphone on the way in to let the store know they’ve arrived. From there, cameras and other sensors track shoppers as they browse and add items to a virtual cart as customers take them off shelves. Amazon automatically charges customers’ accounts when they leave. A sign on the wall calls it “just walk out shopping.”
Amazon Go carries the kinds of pre-made sandwiches, salads, and snacks you might find at a grocery store, along with packaged convenience store fare. Some fresh items, delivered daily, are made by Amazon off-site and some are prepared by local companies like Fairgrounds, Farmer’s Fridge, and I Love Sweets.
Amazon has been pleased with customers’ response to the cashierless store in Seattle but has said it’s too soon to speculate on how big the network of stores may one day be, or whether Amazon Go technology could one day show up in other parts of Amazon’s retail network.
The company intends to open Amazon Go stores in New York and San Francisco.