Amazon, king of online retail, can't seem to make its physical stores work

Amazon seemed to hedge its bets on Go from the start, making sure it wasn't locked into locations long term

- Kate King

amazon.com, the largest e-commerce retailer in the U.S., is stumbling in its efforts to compete in the bricks-and-mortar world.

The company in 2018 launched the Amazon Go convenience store, where customers can grab a latte, bagel or turkey sandwich and walk out without waiting in line to pay.

Amazon charges them electronically.

But with the Amazon Go store in Woodland Hills, Calif., closing this month, the retailer has shrunk its Go portfolio by about half since early 2023, to 16 stores in four states.

Instead, Amazon is focusing on licensing its "Just Walk Out" technology to other retailers, while it focuses its bricks-and-mortar ambitions on grocery stores.

This is hardly Amazon's only misfire in the physical-store universe.

It has closed dozens of its other branded retail stores in recent years, including bookstores, fashion outlets and its "4-star" locations stocked with bestselling items from its website.

After a decadelong experiment with bricks-and-mortar stores, Amazon's dominance online has yet to translate into a successful strategy for connecting with shoppers in the real world, retail brokers and landlords said.

"They keep testing these concepts thinking one of them is going to connect with the consumer in a big way," said Jeff Edison, chief executive of Phillips Edison & Co., a real-estate investor that owns grocery-anchored shopping centers.

"But can you think of any examples where they've actually done the bricks-and-mortar retail well? I can't."

Amazon Go stores were launched to develop technology that speeds up the buying process while saving on labor costs.