Amazon has closed three of its suburban Fresh stores and is poised to open two new sites in the Square Mile in an apparent pivot to attract more City customers.
The e-commerce giant shut locations in Wandsworth, East Sheen and its first London store in Ealing at the end of last week, after closing a further site in Dalston back in January. But work is underway to open two new shops in Moorgate and nearby Liverpool Street, with precise opening dates yet to be decided.
An Amazon spokesperson told the Standard: “Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimization decisions along the way.
“While we decided to close three Amazon Fresh stores, it doesn’t mean we won’t grow. We are committed to our investment in grocery, and as we grow we’ll continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers.”
The closures and openings are set to bring the total number of Amazon Fresh stores in London to 19. There are already three City locations, in Monument, Chancery Lane and Aldgate East.
The US-based business, which also owns the upmarket supermarket chain Whole Foods, first introduced the high-tech stores in London in March 2021, before expanding at breakneck speed with the opening more than a dozen more across the UK in a matter of months.
But the net drop in total stores in the capital suggests those expansion plans may have come to a halt. As many as 100 Amazon Fresh stores had been planned for the UK, according to news site Retail Tech Innovation Hub – but so far this year only three new ones have been announced.
Customers visiting the store can walk out without queuing at the till or using a self-service checkout using the firm’s Just Walk Out technology, which uses sensors along product shelves to detect which items that are being bought and charge shoppers’ Amazon accounts accordingly.
