Amazon Fresh to "go big" or go home in Montgomery County?

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.

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.

Amazon Fresh opens at Chevy Chase Lake (Photos)

Amazon Fresh has opened at Chevy Chase Lake early this morning. The grocery store, located at 8525 Chevy Chase Lake Terrace, is the second Amazon Fresh store in Montgomery County. It is the first to offer Just Walk Out technology, which adds up your purchases as you shop and allows a quick exit if you want to avoid standing in lines. The system will be retrofitted to the existing Amazon Fresh at the Collection at Chevy Chase; a third Amazon Fresh store will open soon at the 270 Center on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg.

This Amazon Fresh is larger than the first store, and the interior seems to have benefitted from the building being new construction, rather than an old supermarket converted into an Amazon Fresh. There is a cafe seating area, where shoppers can enjoy the many fresh and hot prepared foods sold at the store. Customers can also enjoy two hours of free parking.

Amazon Fresh sets opening date at Chevy Chase Lake

The anchor retail tenant of Chevy Chase Land Company's new Chevy Chase Lake development now has an opening date. Amazon Fresh will open there on September 1, 2022. This will be the first Amazon Fresh store in Montgomery County to feature the company's Just Walk Out payment technology. Another Amazon Fresh will be opening very soon on Shady Grove Road, on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg at the 270 Center.

Amazon Fresh, Truist signage installed at Chevy Chase Lake (Photos)

Exactly eight months after I broke the story that Amazon Fresh and Truist would be part of the new Chevy Chase Lake development on Connecticut Avenue, the signs for both businesses have been installed. The Truist sign is already lit. There are also Amazon Fresh curbside pickup signs posted at designated parking spaces outside the future grocery store. Inside, the store is in final preparations for opening, sporting the bare shelves and display cases seen recently at the soon-to-open Shady Grove Road location.

These are the only retail tenants to have signage so far at the development, which is located at a future Purple Line station. Others that have signed leases so far include CVS Pharmacy, restaurant Elena James, Playa Bowls, ice cream shop The Charmery, and wine shop Uncorked.

Taking a look at the rest of the property, you can see the grand lobby of The Barrett, and still-under-construction apartment tower The Claude. Some of the premium construction materials can be seen. A Eurocobble shipping crate outside The Claude contains Milano cobblestone from a quarry in the Italian Alps.

Chevy Chase Lake, Shady Grove Road Amazon Fresh stores to offer Just Walk Out technology

The future Amazon Fresh grocery stores at Chevy Chase Lake and on Shady Grove Road on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg will feature the Just Walk Out payment technology, an Amazon spokesperson said. That system allows the shopper to scan an in-store QR code on their Amazon app, or insert a credit or debit card, to open the Just Walk Out gates upon entering the store. Everything put in and out of the shopping cart will automatically be tabulated as the shopper travels through the store. To check out, the customer simply scans their app, or inserts the same card, to exit the store.

Shady Grove Road at 270 Center

Shady Grove is the closest to opening, and work is far along at the Chevy Chase Lake store, but the Amazon spokesperson said there are no official opening dates set for either location. As you can see, the sign is now up at the Shady Grove store in the 270 Center. If you look at the interior photos, you'll notice many sensors and cameras hanging from the ceiling. You'll also notice the shelves are not stocked yet.

Three Amazon Fresh stores are in the process of opening across the river in Northern Virginia, and also offer the Just Walk Out shopping experience. The Manasssas store opened last week at 7807 Sudley Road. Lorton's Amazon Fresh will open June 23 at 9409 Lorton Market Street. A third store in Arlington will be opening soon at 1550 Crystal Drive. All Amazon Fresh stores offer a $15.50-an-hour starting wage, and donate surplus food to local food banks in each jurisdiction.