All Amazon Fresh stores, including six in the Philly area, are closing
Some stores will be converted to Whole Foods Markets, the company said.
Amazon will be closing all its physical Amazon Fresh stores, including six in the Philadelphia region, as it expands its Whole Foods footprint and grocery delivery services.
The e-commerce giant made the announcement in a statement Tuesday, noting that it would convert some Amazon stores into Whole Foods Markets.
“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 said.
The statement did not specify which Amazon Fresh stores would become Whole Foods, and company spokespeople did not answer questions about whether any Philadelphia-area locations would be converted.
Amazon Fresh has stores in Broomall, Bensalem, Langhorne, Northern Liberties, Warrington, and Willow Grove. The Northern Liberties location on Sixth and Spring Garden Streets opened this summer after years of construction.
Two more potential Amazon Fresh stores seemed to be in the works in Havertown and Northeast Philadelphia as of the summer, according to PhillyVoice.
Smaller-format Amazon Go stores, the closest of which are in New York, will also be shuttered or converted.
As the company winds down its Amazon-branded physical stores, it says it will “double down” on online grocery delivery, including by expanding its same-day services to more communities.
Amazon’s same-day delivery has been available in the Philadelphia market since 2009. Since December, Amazon has been testing “Amazon Now” delivery — which aims to get groceries to customers in 30 minutes or less — in parts of Philadelphia and Seattle.
Amazon also said it plans to invest more in physical Whole Foods stores, adding more than 100 stores nationwide in the coming years.
Amazon said Tuesday that Whole Foods has seen a 40% growth in sales since Amazon purchased the organic-grocery chain in 2017.
Whole Foods has 550 locations nationwide, including more than a dozen in the Philadelphia area. Amazon spokespeople did not answer questions about whether more Whole Foods stores were in the works in the Philly region.
Amazon also expects to open at least five more smaller-format Whole Foods Market Daily Shop stores by the end of the year. The company said that decision was based on “strong performance” at the five existing shops in the New York City area and Arlington, Va.
The online retailer said it plans to continue to experiment with new ways of shopping at its physical stores.
In its statement, Amazon gave a shout-out to one such test in the Philadelphia area: “The store within a store” experience at the Whole Foods in Plymouth Meeting.
Since November, customers at that store have been able to browse the physical aisles of Whole Foods, while digitally ordering unique products from Amazon and Whole Foods. The orders are then packaged in minutes in an automated micro-fulfillment center within the grocer’s back-of-house area.