USA TODAY International Edition
Eager Seattle shoppers line up to try Amazon Go
SEATTLE – Crowds of tech aficionados, news crews and the simply curious turned out for the public opening of Amazon’s checkout-free convenience store Monday, giving a generally nondescript sidewalk the air of an Apple store the day a new iPhone comes out.
“This is the future of grocery shopping. It’s exciting to see the technology in action,” said Yuval Fleming, who was so eager to try it out that he happily stood in a prdawn line to be one of the first to try the store.
Fleming came out with a six-pack of beer and a mug emblazoned with the Amazon Go tag line Just Walk Out shopping.
Shopping at Amazon Go requires users to have an Amazon account and to put the Amazon Go app on their phones. They scan the app on the electronic readers at the entrance turnstiles, then walk in and grab whatever they want. They can stick their purchases in their pockets, a bag or a pack — Amazon’s technology knows what they’ve taken and charges their account. There are no checkout lines.
The store opened to Amazon staff a year ago but only now to the public, resurfacing worries about future jobs lost to automation and the tide of cool-but-expensive technology that highlights the growing divide between haves and have-nots.
Critics note shopping at the store requires a smartphone, a credit card or electronic payment system linked to an Amazon account and that the shop carries items mostly aimed at a wealthy clientele who can afford to choose organic and locally-sourced items.
It notably doesn’t accept SNAP, the modern equivalent of food stamps, in contrast with 90% of the 7-Elevens in the nation.
Amazon has been working on the technology that powers the Amazon Go store for about five years and opened the store to staff for beta testing in 2016. It was supposed to open to the public in 2017, but getting the bugs worked out proved trickier than expected.
Most visitors Monday morning were buying snacks and items simply for the novelty of getting to try out the technology. By 8 am, stockers were already replenishing the Amazon Just Walk Out mugs and bags, which had been cleared out by the eager crowd.
The space is the size of a regular convenience store, though with a high-end assortment of foods. They include chilled beverages, sweets, snacks, ready-made salads and sandwiches, frozen foods and a wall of meal kits for dinners. The foods sits on shelves full of hidden sensors that note when an item has been removed or when it has been put back. Hundreds of cameras, painted matte black to blend in with the ceiling, capture movement.
One difference about the Amazon Go store is that it only sells identical items. Each ham sandwich, for example, is the same price and can be seen by the store as interchangeable with every other ham sandwich. This limits the number of items the store must keep track of.