Amazon, the e-commerce giant that helped usher in the online shopping revolution, is officially pulling the plug on its Amazon-branded physical stores.
The company announced in a blog post on Wednesday that it is shutting down both its grocery and automated grab-and-go convenience stores, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, marking the end of yet another failed experiment to crack brick-and-mortar retail.
“While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion,” the company said in the post.
Amazon first dipped its toes into physical retail back in 2015, when it opened a bookstore. Over the years, the company rolled out a rotating lineup of IRL concepts, including an Amazon 4-Star shop that sold kitchen goods, toys, and electronics, and even a short-lived clothing store. None of those concepts survived.
Now, Amazon’s remaining 58 Amazon Fresh grocery stores and 14 checkout-free Amazon Go locations are set to close next.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo.
Bloomberg reported that most of the stores are expected to close by this Sunday. The shutdowns are expected to affect thousands of hourly workers, as well as roughly a dozen corporate employees. Amazon said it is working to help impacted workers transition into other roles within the company, including positions in its operations network.
Despite the closures, Amazon insists it isn’t giving up on its grocery ambitions. In the same blog post announcing the shutdowns, the company touted its broader grocery business, claiming it is now one of the top three grocers in the U.S. It says its grocery business has generated more than $150 billion in gross sales and has over 150 million grocery shoppers every year.
Instead of pushing its own branded stores, Amazon appears to be doubling down on its Whole Foods brand, which it acquired in 2017. The company said it plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods Market locations over the next few years, including an expansion of its smaller Whole Foods Market Daily Shop format. These compact stores focus on grab-and-go meals, coffee, and everyday essentials. There are currently five Daily Shop locations.
Amazon also said it will convert some closed Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores into Whole Foods locations. On top of that, the company plans to expand its same-day delivery service for perishable groceries to more cities and towns later this year.
