(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is shuttering its Amazon-branded grocery stores and automated grab-and-go markets, eliminating two centerpieces of its push into physical retail.
Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores will close, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday, with some locations converted into Whole Foods Market stores.
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“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,” Amazon said.
The moves mark the e-commerce giant’s latest retreat from its brick-and-mortar retail efforts. Since the surprise opening of a physical bookstore in 2015, Amazon has tried and failed to establish a foothold under its own brand in categories from groceries to fashion, often with technological flourishes such as digital price tags or novel checkout methods.
Over the last few years, the company has backed away from the bookstores, an eclectic kitchen goods, toys and electronics store called Amazon 4-Star, electronics kiosks in shopping malls and a short-lived clothing storefront.
Amazon on Tuesday said it would continue to invest in groceries sold both online and offline. That includes an ongoing effort to stock more produce and perishables in Amazon’s same-day delivery warehouses and at more Whole Foods stores, which comprise more than 550 locations.
Amazon currently operates 14 Go stores, which use cameras to track what people grab off the shelves, and 58 Amazon Fresh grocery stores, according to its website. The last day of operation for most of those stores will be Sunday, a spokesperson said, except in California, where they’ll stay open longer to comply with state requirements for advance notice of closures.
The moves mean thousands of hourly workers in the stores will lose their jobs. Cuts to Amazon’s corporate workforce will likely involve dozens of people, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity because the information was confidential. The company says it will work to help employees find other jobs at Amazon, including at Whole Foods stores or in its logistics network. Amazon’s corporate ranks were already bracing for a round of layoffs expected as soon as this week.