Dive Brief:
- Amazon opened a new Amazon Go suburban convenience store Tuesday in Whittier, California, about 20 miles East of downtown Los Angeles.
- The c-store is the first Amazon Go location to open in Southern California. The state now has five Amazon Go stores in total, with the other four being in San Francisco.
- Amazon shared that a third suburban format Amazon Go store “is coming soon” to Torrance, California, about 15 miles west of Long Beach.
Dive Insight:
The new 4,100 square-foot store in Whittier is Amazon Go’s second store that follows its new suburban format. The first, located in Mill Creek, Washington, opened earlier this year.
Like the first suburban store, the Whittier location features Amazon’s made-to-order kitchen concept, which offers nearly 30 freshly prepared all-day breakfast and lunch items, including breakfast bowls, sandwiches and burritos, hot and cold deli sandwiches, salads and wraps. The store also offers self-serve Pinkberry frozen yogurt with a selection of free toppings.
The store offers a variety of grab-and-go food and beverage items, including a range of beer, wine, and spirits and everyday essentials. It also offers various specialty beverages, including Starbucks freshly brewed coffee and on-tap beverages such as Stumptown Cold Brew and Nitro Cold Brew, Health-Ade kombucha, fountain sodas and ICEE slushies.
Similar to the Mill Creek store, customers in the Whittier location can access a customer service desk where they can return Amazon packages, buy gift cards and ask questions. Shoppers can use Amazon Hub Lockers in this area as well.
Amazon did not provide a date for when the suburban Amazon Go in Torrance will open, but noted that it will be more than 6,000 square-feet in size and located at the corner of Hawthorne and Sepulveda Boulevard in Long Beach.
Amazon Go c-stores use the company’s Just Walk Out technology, which automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. When customers are done shopping, they can leave the store without checking out and receive a receipt and charge to their Amazon account.
Amazon currently operates 28 Amazon Go c-stores in the U.S.
