A long-completed but yet-to-open Amazon Fresh store filled with empty shelves on Shady Grove Road has become the local poster child for a nationwide freeze on Amazon's expansion plans in the grocery sector. Amazon successfully opened Amazon Fresh stores in Friendship Heights and Chevy Chase Lake, but the 270 Center store on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg has been frozen in time since the fall of 2022. Yesterday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy offered the first update on the cloudy future of the retail giant's bricks-and-mortar grocery adventure to the Financial Times, and it was a vaguely positive one.
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| Empty shelves inside the completed-but-unopened Shady Grove Amazon Fresh store |
Amazon plans to "go big" on expansion of its physical grocery stores this year, Jassy said in an exclusive interview with the FT. He said the halt he ordered on the openings and leasing of new locations cost the company $720 million in Q4 of 2022, and blamed the problems that warranted the pause on the pandemic. He said that now "we're hopeful that in 2023 we have a format we want to go big on, on the physical side."
That sounds like we can expect the Shady Grove store to go forward this year, and that the hysterical forecasts of all Amazon Fresh stores closing will prove to have been premature. Surprisingly, Jassy sounded more bullish on bricks-and-mortar stores than on the company's Amazon Fresh online delivery service, saying "people want to actually touch and feel" the foods they are buying before making a purchase. The FT noted that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had promised to remain engaged on the grocery push after stepping aside as CEO in 2021. It's likely Bezos wasn't too pleased to hear the company hesitate on a plan that was meant to facilitate major growth in Amazon's online same-day-delivery service, which is dependent upon having neighborhood hubs like the Amazon Fresh grocery stores function as warehouses.
Bezos has a home in Washington, D.C. You can be sure he is going to be monitoring the progress of a Shady Grove store that is practically right under his nose in Montgomery County.
I shopped at the Chevy Chase Lake store once to try it out. It’s not a very inviting experience. Seemed like I was shopping in a warehouse. Dimly lit and a bit creepy. Nothing to want to make me return. The scanning shopping carts are an unnecessary gimmick that does not add to the experience. I’d like to get a receipt when I leave.
ReplyDeleteYour complaint makes zero sense. If for whatever reason you love waiting in lines and having paper receipts, that's literally an option available in the store, boomer.
DeleteYes, the Amazon Fresh is awful and once again, that space at Chevy Chase Center will be empty sooner than later. The center has a covenant that a grocer anchor it. Baldacci would make a zillion dollars if they opened there. The one at Wildwood is always, always decently full of shoppers. An area like ours is somewhat recession proof. Folks shopping there have no problem paying $20/pound for premium bacon.
ReplyDeleteHopefully AF will get kicked out and Chevy Chase Supermarket returned.
ReplyDeleteYou can be sure he is going to be monitoring the progress of a Shady Grove store? I think you could be wrong, Robert. Speaking as the resident billionaire in MoCO, I have bigger issues in my life than tracking store progress. Is Rihanna pregnant?
ReplyDeleteThe Amazon Fresh at The Collection in Friendship Heights is terrible. It has a warehouse feel and quite frankly feels dirty. Merchandise is sparse. With the exception of one time I've walked in and out without purchasing. The store could close and not be missed. We need a
ReplyDeleteTrader Joe's or Harris Teeter!
Amazon: Go away! Where is enforcement of anti-trust laws when you need them? And I'm not only talking about Amazon. Look at the sorry state of so-called "choice" in so many other industries in this region and our country.
ReplyDeleteAmazon
ReplyDeleteGo Away!
Giant was great in that space
ReplyDeleteI wish Publix or magruders would move there
Safeway/acme has the best bargains and those condos are filled with retired people
Really get a kick out of the Amazon users. Bozos essentially drives out LBS, particularly our Barnes and Noble social anchor in DT Bethesda, then opens their own inferior bookstore that hawks popular krap, then they ultimately can't compete with their own selves, vacate that and then leave us with a $250 dollar a pair Chinese shoe company that had to close their closest store in Georgetown because it wasn't accessible on the Redline, and too difficult to 'secure.'The part of destruction behind Bezos is unlimited. We get the burden, but wow, we get it in two days!
ReplyDeleteDoes your acronym "LBS" mean "locally based store(s)"? Because Barnes & Noble was certainly not in that category.
ReplyDeleteLocal book store probably, vs online.
Delete@6:18 You got your Trader Joe's and HT just a lazy drive up the street.
ReplyDelete@9:42 PM - Sorry you ain't getting a Publix, they don't service this region, same for Acme. Magruder's? LOL, dream on, they downsized last century and have no plans to expand. Food chains have circular zones they service and also protect from their competitors intrusion, you're out of luck in attracting most chains not already represented here.
ReplyDeleteOnly one Magruder's store left, the one in Chevy Chase DC.
ReplyDelete@9:26 am - Not a "lazy drive". It's called walking to get to TJ's or HT!!! Good exercise. Bottom line is that the Friendship Heights Amazon Fresh is a waste of time. Won't be missed if it closes.
ReplyDelete