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Posted by trenning 1/27/2026

Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores(finance.yahoo.com)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/food/amazon-fresh-go-closures

https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/amazon-to-shut-down-all-...

315 points | 547 commentspage 5
maxfurman 1/27/2026|
Wow, they just opened a brand new one in Philly less than two months ago. I've yet to shop there and I guess now I never will. It must have cost millions to clear that site and build a whole new building there. Just to abandon it. I wish I had money to waste like that.

Edit: it actually opened in August, so it was around for about six months instead of two.

add-sub-mul-div 1/27/2026||
Did the humans pretending to be the AI unionize?
mattmaroon 1/28/2026||
They built one in my area a few years ago and then never opened it. It’s just been sitting vacant the entire time.
xnx 1/27/2026||
Coincidentally(?) they are open their first big box retail store: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/01/09/amazon-plans-first-big-b...
rob74 1/27/2026||
When I saw the picture at the start of the article, I briefly thought they would do it like IKEA and let people pick the articles directly from the Amazon warehouse...
joezydeco 1/27/2026||
If you've ever been in a Fresh store, that's kind of what it was as well. I saw maybe 20% off-the-street customers, the rest were AMZN workers filling delivery orders.
brightball 1/27/2026||
That will be interesting to watch.
netfortius 1/27/2026||
While https://abc7chicago.com/post/orland-park-village-board-vote-...
sodafountan 1/27/2026||
I stopped into the Amazon Fresh in Broomall, PA, to check it out not too long ago. It just looks bland and dystopian from the outside, and not much about it is impressive from the inside. I've worked with computers and technology my whole life, and the entrance to the store just confused me. If I remember correctly, I had to scan the Amazon app on my phone to enter the building. Once inside, it felt like a warehouse; the aisles were too small, and the food selection wasn't even really that great. (From memory, it was a few years ago that I went)

All in all, it's a cool concept on paper with absolutely terrible execution.

Only went once, bought some snacks, and left.

stefap2 1/28/2026||
And Amazon also discontinuing Amazon One palm authentication services in whole foods. I wonder if these are related events. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790734
wagwang 1/27/2026||
If we lived in a high trust society, you could just trust people to scan their own items and walk out.
jandrese 1/27/2026||
Human nature probably prevents that from ever being a reality, at least at scale. In a tiny tight knit community where literally everybody knows everybody else maybe you could pull that off, but even then you have to get a bit lucky.

In a world where anonymity is a thing there will always be at least one inherent shithead who ruins it for everyone. Even if you do have a community where it's true, that can change anytime someone has a kid or someone moves in.

IvyMike 1/27/2026|||
The Dash Cart was pretty close.
throwaway2037 1/27/2026||
Can you name some high trust societies?
kotaKat 1/27/2026|
Curious thought - will they be shutting down other “just walk out” powered stuff like Hudson Nonstops in airports?

I also know some Amazon warehouses had an entire Just Walk Out powered concessions area in their breakroom for purchasing snacks in partnership with one of their canteen vendors.

count 1/27/2026|
Nah, they're still actively selling/implementing the backing service/tech for other orgs.
kotaKat 1/27/2026||
That’s kinda what I figured. At this point it seems like they all have the same general configuration of coolers and shelves and the same cameras all angled in the same setup everywhere so I assume it’s all down to one very strict CV model or something…
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