Amazon is closing its physical Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores Amanda Silberling 8:21 AM PST · January 27, 2026 RIP, Amazon convenience stores: gone and probably soon forgotten.
Amazon announced on Tuesday that it will close its brick-and-mortar Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores and will instead expand its capacity for same-day grocery delivery, as well as its Whole Foods Market footprint.
These stores were used to grow Amazon’s cashierless Just Walk Out technology, which tracks what items customers grab, allowing them to pay for their groceries without a more formal checkout process. The company is instead focusing on offering that technology to third parties, like concession stands at sports stadiums.
“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,” the company wrote in a blog post.
These retail closures will not impact customers who use Amazon for grocery delivery.
It’s not surprising that Amazon will divest from its branded retail stores, given that Amazon has been cutting down on its physical retail presence over the last few years. Upon closing down some stores in 2024, an Amazon spokesperson said that the company “couldn’t make the economics work with the lease cost.”
Amazon isn’t giving up on the brick-and-mortar side of its business, though. Instead, it will embrace the fact that people have a stronger brand affinity with Whole Foods Market than the Amazon Go convenience store.
Techcrunch event Disrupt 2026 Tickets: One-time offer Tickets are live! Save up to $680 while these rates last, and be among the first 500 registrants to get 50% off your +1 pass. TechCrunch Disrupt brings top leaders from Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, a16z, Hugging Face, and more to 250+ sessions designed to fuel growth and sharpen your edge. Connect with hundreds of innovative startups and join curated networking that drives deals, insights, and inspiration. Disrupt 2026 Tickets: One-time offer Tickets are live! Save up to $680 while these rates last, and be among the first 500 registrants to get 50% off your +1 pass. TechCrunch Disrupt brings top leaders from Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, a16z, Hugging Face, and more to 250+ sessions designed to fuel growth and sharpen your edge. Connect with hundreds of innovative startups and join curated networking that drives deals, insights, and inspiration. San Francisco | October 13-15, 2026 REGISTER NOW Amazon will open more than 100 new Whole Foods stores over the next few years. The company says Whole Foods has seen over 40% sales growth and expansion to 550 stores since it was acquired by Amazon in 2017.
Amazon also plans to open more Whole Foods Market Daily Shop locations — a smaller version of the grocery store with an emphasis on convenience and grab-and-go meals. These seem similar to the idea behind Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores, but people probably feel better about grabbing a salad from Whole Foods than the Amazon Fresh store… even though they’re the same company.
Amanda Silberling Senior Writer
Amanda Silberling is a senior writer at TechCrunch covering the intersection of technology and culture. She has also written for publications like Polygon, MTV, the Kenyon Review, NPR, and Business Insider. She is the co-host of Wow If True, a podcast about internet culture, with science fiction author Isabel J. Kim. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she worked as a grassroots organizer, museum educator, and film festival coordinator. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Princeton in Asia Fellow in Laos.
You can contact or verify outreach from Amanda by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at @amanda.100 on Signal.
October 13-15 San Francisco, CA Tickets are live at the lowest rates of the year. Save up to $680 on your pass — and if you’re among the first 500 registrants, score a +1 pass at 50% off . Meet investors. Discover your next portfolio company. Hear from 250+ tech leaders , dive into 200+ sessions , and explore 300+ startups building what’s next. Don’t miss these one-time savings.
Most Popular Anthropic launches interactive Claude apps, including Slack and other workplace tools Russell Brandom
TikTok users freak out over app’s ‘immigration status’ collection — here’s what it means Sarah Perez
-- --