Amazon closes Fresh grocery and Go convenience stores

Amazon.com

- MATT DAY

Inc is shuttering its Amazon-branded grocery stores and automated grab-and-go markets, eliminating two centrepieces of its push into physical retail.Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores will close, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday, with some locations converted into Whole Foods Market stores.

"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," Amazon said.

The moves mark the e-commerce giant's latest retreat from its brick-and-mortar retail efforts. Since the surprise opening of a physical bookstore in 2015, Amazon has tried and failed to establish a foothold under its own brand in categories from groceries to fashion, often with technological flourishes such as digital price tags or novel checkout methods.

Over the past few years, the company has backed away from the bookstores, an eclectic kitchen goods, toys and electronics store called Amazon 4-Star, electronics kiosks in shopping malls and a short-lived clothing storefront.