Amazon Fresh opens in Chevy Chase (Video+Photos)

Amazon opened its first Amazon Fresh grocery store in Montgomery County yesterday, at the Collection at Chevy Chase in Friendship Heights. Shoppers passed under high-school prom balloon arches, and auto dealership-style stringed pennants flapped in the breeze outside. But the big question on everyone's mind after months of glazed-over windows was, "What's inside?"

Love Amazon tech or hate it, the gang's all here - the Amazon app, Prime, Alexa, and Amazon Lockers (for same-day pickup for Prime members). So are some of the Amazon house brands that are increasingly populating their flagship website and their Whole Foods grocery stores, like Happy Belly, Presto!, Aplenty, and Amazon Kitchen. Their house brands are a notch above the private label merchandise at standard grocery stores. For example, I've found their Presto! paper towels to be pretty close to Bounty in quality, and better than Brawny, which was previously Bounty's closest competitor in strength and absorption.

There are fresh-looking salads and appetizing pizzas available by the slice, as well as a hot bar. Pricing is lower than Jeff Bezos' Whole Foods, which is very appropriate with the recent downscaling of once-opulent Friendship Heights. 

While the flight of the rich to lower-tax jurisdictions - and the high-end buying power they took with them - tanked the luxe retail economy of this strip once touted as "Montgomery County's Rodeo Drive," leaving empty storefronts "aplenty," Bezos is coming to the rescue with $0.15 cent bananas; $0.89 cent freshly-baked bread; $1.79 freshly-baked pizza slices; and $4.97 rotisserie chickens. Deals the spacefaring billionaire was offering on opening day included $2.69 for a 12-pack of Coca-Cola, buy-one-get-one-free Lay’s chips (7.5-8 oz.), and 50% off all Aplenty products.

The interior design of the store is minimalist and contemporary, with all of the exposed ventilation ducts, pipes and industrial surfaces you could ask for. Flooring is nicer than the plain concrete you might expect. Overall, the design puts your full attention on the merchandise. To Amazon's credit, it also realized the store was in Friendship Heights and not "Chevy Chase Village," in time for the fabrication of the in-store signage.

Dash Cart is the new Amazon tech feature most prominent in the store. While the function of it is impressive and sure to be copied by other chains, it isn't quite right for everyone. I had imagined it as being a large grocery cart like any other, but scanning any items I would put into it for a roll-through checkout upon leaving. Instead, it holds only two bags, meaning it is geared more toward the urban couple, or someone who wants to maximize their exposure to the Delta variant by shopping every day instead of once a week.

Surprisingly, there isn't a traditional self-checkout machine area. So if you are buying more than two bags with Dash Cart, you will have to get in line at a traditional cashier checkout.

One other drawback? The inventory and selection are less than you would find at Wegmans, Giant, or Safeway. A 10:00 PM closing time is also not competitive with stores like Giant that stay open until midnight. Amazon Fresh opens at 7:00 AM daily.

Amazon celebrated yesterday's opening with giveaways, and they have also promised to donate surplus food to local food banks. “We’re excited to introduce Amazon Fresh to the Chevy Chase community today," the store's manager Amy Denner said. "As we open our doors, customers will discover a unique checkout-free shopping experience with our Amazon Dash Cart, which offers the ultimate convenience when shopping for low-priced, high-quality foods. I’m looking forward to the positive impact this new store will have on the local area, which starts with the hundreds of good jobs we’ve created for the community.”