Amazon Fresh appears to be opening new stores again. Amazon announced it is making changes to some of its stores after pausing new store openings last year. I visited the recently opened Fresh store to see if shopping there was better than it was a year ago.
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Amazon’s efforts to build its own grocery store chain seem to be gaining new momentum recently.
Amazon has opened additional Fresh stores in the past few months and now has 50 stores across the U.S., according to the company’s website. For example, Amazon opened Fresh stores in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Roseville, California in August.
This is a reversal from 2023, when some Fresh stores were closed, and CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon was “developing a formula with the differentiation and economic value that we want.” “We will hold off on opening new fresh stores until we can achieve this,” he said. The move called into question the success of the company’s fresh store strategy (Amazon also owns the Whole Foods chain) and its ability to compete effectively with other more established grocery chains.
Amazon told Bloomberg last year that it would also change some aspects of its Fresh stores. It promised a new color scheme and additions such as self-checkout kiosks.
Just over a year ago, I visited the Amazon Fresh store. I found lots of sale items there, but regularly left the store with no apparent reason to buy groceries there.
Now that Amazon is opening new Fresh stores again, we decided to visit another location to see if the changes have made the chain a more attractive place for grocery stores. This is what I found.
Do you work at Amazon Fresh or another part of Amazon’s grocery business and have a story idea you’d like to share? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com.
