USA TODAY International Edition
Amazon’s drive- thru grocery a done deal?
Online retailer gives boozy hint on plans
SAN FRANCISCO Amazon has applied for a liquor license for its secretive drive- through grocery store in Seattle, one of the first official documents that links the almost- complete site to the online sales behemoth.
Plans for the 9,700- squarefoot building describe it as “a new model of grocery shopping.” Customers place orders online, then drive by during a specific 15- minute to two- hour window and have their groceries delivered to their cars.
The documents filed with the city’s planning department never name the company building the proposed drive- through grocery facility. However, the liquor license application for the address, filed Feb. 7, lists Amazon as the proprietor.
Amazon has done an excellent job of getting consumers to buy all sorts of things they once wouldn’t have dreamed of buying online. “Now, grocery is the next category people are going to feel comfortable with,” and Amazon wants their business, said Rupesh Parikh, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.
From the city planning documents, it appears there will be little or no shelves of food and other items to choose from. Instead, all ordering must be done online. Even customers who walk in will order from provided electronic tablets and then wait in the “retail room” for their order to be brought to them, according to the documents. Amazon declined to comment on the site or its grocery ambitions.
The model is different from the Amazon Go convenience store that opened last fall near the company’s headquarters. There, customers walk in, fill their baskets and then walk out, with everything being tallied up by computer and no checkout lines in sight.
Amazon is not the only one playing in this space. Walmart beat it to the punch when it opened its first drive- thru grocery pickup site in Bentonville, Ark., in 2014. Customers order groceries and sundries online, then schedule a pickup time.