Photo: Stephen Brashear (Getty Images)
After the success of their first self-serving Amazon Go store, the company announced their plans to open a few more by the end of the year. These new locations will be in Seattle (Amazon’s hometown where they opened the first store) and Los Angeles, amounting to six stores in total. The idea behind these cashier-free stores is that customers simply choose the products they want using an app without waiting in queues for the cash register. There is no doubt that other stores might follow in their footsteps if the concept proves to be time-saving and reliable. Time will tell if it’s so.
The first Amazon Go store was opened to the public on January 22nd and immediately drew hundreds of customers. Some of the users on the Internet commented on the paradox of hundreds of people waiting in line to enter a store that’s supposed to eliminate the need for queuing. However, that’s quite understandable, as many were eager to try out the futuristic idea of one of the biggest online commerce companies in the world. Based on the reactions, we can conclude that the Amazon Go stores are a huge success.
I’m in Seattle and there is currently a line to shop at the grocery store whose entire premise is that you won’t have to wait in line. pic.twitter.com/fWr80A0ZPV
— Ryan Petersen (@typesfast) January 22, 2018
Now, Seattle is a logical choice for more stores since they’ve already broken the ice with their first location in the Day 1 building (one of the three towers that make up Amazon’s headquarters). When it comes to Los Angeles, rumor has it that Amazon were in talks with billionaire Rick Caruso about placing the stores inside his 600,000 square-foot complex the Grove. This rumor was declined by the Amazon representative sometime later, but it doesn’t mean that they won’t be coming to LA. Besides that, the City of Angels has always been a suitable testing ground for the company, with many of their new services trying their luck there. One of these projects is the rumored shipping service that would rival FedEx and UPS.
