Amazon launches new concept grocery stores

Amazon announced on Thursday that it was opening a supermarket in Los Angeles with high-tech shopping carts that let customers skip checkout lines.

The customers will pass items through a technology system that will register the products and later bill the customer via a credit card on file once they are out of the store.

Named Amazon Fresh, the new store is in the Woodland Hills neighborhood and it is the first location to let customers in - by invitation only - out of the seven that Amazon has confirmed for Southern California and greater Chicago.

The Woodland Hills site will open to the wider public in coming weeks, Amazon said.

Amazon Vice President Jeff Helbling said in an interview: We do think of these formats as complementing one another and serving different needs,” said Jeff Helbling, vice president of Amazon Fresh stores. “Whole Foods is a longstanding pioneer and leader in natural, organic and clean foods. Amazon’s Fresh selection is fairly different. We see them operating next to one another and we’re excited to offer customers the choice between the two.”

He also told Reuters that the market would stock a whole range of different products and brands: “We feature a lot of national brands.”

Prices are “lower than the other options that the people have in the Woodland Hills area.”

Amazon is expanding its footprint of physical stores at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the collapse of already struggling brick-and-mortar retailers.