Amazon to close Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh to concentrate on Whole Foods and grocery delivery

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Associated Presd

Business
Amazon to close Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh to concentrate on Whole Foods and grocery delivery

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
Updated 11:50 AM EST, January 27, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon said it’s closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, as the online behemoth focuses on its grocery delivery, Whole Foods Market and a new “supersized” store concept.

The Seattle-based online retailer said Tuesday in a blog post that it plans to convert some of those soon-to-be shuttered locations into Whole Foods Market stores. The company operates 57 Amazon Fresh stores and 15 Amazon Go stores.

“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 noted that customers can continue to shop Amazon Fresh online in available areas for “fast and convenient delivery."

{snip}

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/amazon-amazon-go-amazon-fresh-deliveries-6db095b6631fecfe03e5f2fc2ad63b69

---

The stores are shutting down from sea to shining sea. In four days.

Original text:

https://www.alxnow.com/2026/01/27/amazon-fresh-will-close-potomac-yard-location-as-it-shuts-down-all-stores-nationwide/

News
Amazon Fresh will close Potomac Yard location as it shuts down all stores nationwide

By James Cullum
Published January 27, 2026 at 1:30PM


Amazon Fresh at 3801 Richmond Highway in the Potomac Yard Shopping Center (staff photo by James Cullum)

Amazon Fresh announced today* (Tuesday) that it will close all its stores nationwide, including the location at Potomac Yard that opened just a year and a half ago.

The last day for most Amazon Fresh stores across the country is Feb. 1, according to the Associated Press. Amazon plans to shutter all Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores, converting some locations into Whole Foods Markets, according to a press release.

Details, including which locations will be converted and the exact timelines, are still being finalized, according to a spokesperson.

{snip}

* https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-fresh-go-stores-closing-expanding-whole-foods

[LisaM]

1. It seemed like a dystopian shopping experience anyway.

Amazon does seem committed to creating a dystopian world, though, so I am sure they'll come up with some fresh hell.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. FRESH AMAZON HELL is the new sign.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Amazon controlling our food supply ??? NO THANK YOU !! nt

[Zorro]

3. An Amazon Fresh store opened close by us last year

I actually liked shopping there once I got the hang of scanning and placing objects in the cart and then heading out the door without using a checkout line. Prices were pretty competitive -- and since it was reported that the stores were money losers for Amazon, so much the better.

[littlemissmartypants]

5. Now, let's see those GET YER BEZO BARGINS HERE signs...

IOW... Watch for prices to rise while they liquidate inventory.

Four days. So the fruit won't rot.

I wonder what's going to happen with the food? Trashed probably.

Fuck Amazon.
GENERAL STRIKE NOW!!
❤️ RESIST!! ✊️

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Amazon to close 23 California grocery stores as it axes cashier-free concept

Food
Amazon to close 23 California grocery stores as it axes cashier-free concept

By Susana Guerrero,
Senior Food Reporter
Updated Jan 27, 2026 5:19 p.m.

Amazon plans to close 23 grocery stores in California as it abandons its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores nationwide. Some locations could reopen as Whole Foods Market stores. ... Amazon announced the Amazon Go and Fresh closures in a news release on Tuesday, where it said that the company has yet to find “the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion” of its Amazon-branded grocery stores. Amazon currently operates 19 Amazon Fresh storefronts in Southern California and three in Northern California, as well as one Amazon Go store in Los Angeles County.

The company launched Amazon Fresh as a delivery-only service in 2017 but later brought physical grocery store locations to Los Angeles and Chicago in 2020 before expanding nationwide. Amazon Go stores have smaller footprints and were first launched in Seattle. Both Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go feature cashier-less checkout technology.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed that 57 Amazon Go stores and 15 Amazon Fresh locations across the U.S. will close as early as Sunday, but said that the California locations will shutter later while the company complies with state law. In California, groceries and pharmacies must provide a 45-day notice ahead of an expected closure. The spokesperson said employees would be offered either new jobs or severance pay for leaving the company.

Some of the California locations could be converted into new locations for Whole Foods, which is also owned by Amazon, but the spokesperson declined to say which locations in California would be converted. According to the news release, the online retail giant will open more than 100 Whole Foods locations within the next few years. It’s also unclear where these upcoming stores will open. ... The company plans to continue offering Amazon Fresh as an online service following the closure of the physical stores.

{snip}

Jan 27, 2026 | Updated Jan 27, 2026 5:19 p.m.

Susana Guerrero
Senior Food Reporter
Susana Guerrero is a senior food reporter at SFGATE and has covered Bay Area restaurants since 2015. Her profile on celebrity chef Martin Yan won second place in the San Francisco Press Club awards in 2022. She earned an M.A. in journalism from USC Annenberg and a B.A. in English from UC Berkeley. She’s a Bay Area native. You can contact her at [e-mail].