Amazon is pulling the plug on its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh brick-and-mortar stores. In a company announcement, Amazon said the decision followed a review of its Amazon-branded grocery stores, noting that while the stores worked in theory, they didn't work in a way that made sense long term. Some of the closing locations will be converted into Whole Foods Market stores. Amazon Fresh will continue operating online in markets where delivery is available. The move doesn’t, however, signal Amazon stepping away from groceries. The company now delivers groceries in more than 5,000 U.S. cities, and since adding fresh and frozen foods to same-day delivery in 2025, it says sales of perishables through that service have grown sharply. At the same time, Amazon is doubling down on Whole Foods Market, the grocery brand it acquired in 2017. Whole Foods Market now operates more than 550 locations and has seen notable gains in both sales and foot traffic. Amazon said it's working to place employees affected by the closures into other roles within the company, reinforcing that this is a reallocation of resources, not a shutdown. In the end, Amazon isn’t abandoning groceries, it's accepting the truth that people want Amazon for convenience, and they want Whole Foods Market for food.
