All Amazon Fresh stores in the UK are to close, the e-commerce giant announced today.
Amazon Fresh, which first launched in London in 2021, sees shoppers never have to reach for their bank cards or ring up at a till.
Instead, they use the app to enter the store and are charged when they leave.
But all 19 Amazon Fresh stores will soon close, putting 250 jobs at risk.
At least five sites will be rebranded into Whole Foods, the organic US grocer that Amazon bought in 2017.
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While staff, the company confirmed, will be offered new roles in other parts of the business.
The Amazon-ification of supermarkets never quite caught on in London, a city dominated by Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s.
Customers walk through biometric scanning devices and are closely watched by hundreds of cameras that build a virtual shopping basket.
The technology, called Just Walk Out, also involves tiny sensors placed under every fruit, vegetable and ready meal.
Software analyses the shopping activity and, when the shopper walks out, shopping bags in tow, their Amazon accounts are billed.
Full list of Amazon Fresh stores closing
Aldgate, London
Angel, London
Chingford, London
East Croydon, London
Euston, London
Holborn, London
Hounslow,London
Hoxton, London
Kensington, London
Liverpool Street, London
Moorgate, London
Monument, London
Notting Hill Gate, London
Southwark, London
Sevenoaks, London
Wembley, London
West Hampstead, London
White City, London
Wood Wharf, London
But Amazon Fresh is in no way alone – many retailers, from Poundland to River Island, have been forced to close stores in recent months.
And they won’t be the last, either, with 132,945 high street shops expected to disappear over the next 15 years.
David Gilbert, a former finance director of The White Company and Karen Millen, told Metro that the avalanche of closures is down to costs.
The fractional CFO at The CFO Centre said: ‘Retailers have been under pressure for years, especially those with a large shop estate. This includes inflation, online competitors and increased regulation and taxation.’
That even includes Amazon itself, Gilbert added, which lets people buy groceries online.
‘Some retailers will be able to pass these costs onto their customers, but in low-value, high-volume businesses, with large competition, this is very difficult to do,’ he said.
‘Claire’s – another recent example – specifically had previously filed for bankruptcy, before being rescued in a takeover, showing how past financial struggles can resurface in difficult conditions.’
Amazon has been approached for comment.
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