Amazon Learns Tech Isn’t Everything in Retail Stores

It looks like Amazon has finally realized most people go to grocery and convenience stores to browse and shop—not to be wowed by technology. Case in point: Amazon is closing more of its futuristic cashierless convenience shops and launching mini Whole Foods stores that are comparatively low tech. 

When Amazon opened its first Go store to the public in 2018, it touted the grab-and-go Just Walk Out technology as the future of shopping. Amazon had opened as many as 28 Go stores by early 2023, but it has been winnowing that number down, with its latest closure of three New York shops leaving just 17 Go locations. (An Amazon spokesperson said the company “couldn’t make the economics work with the lease cost” at the newly shuttered New York shops.)