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.
10 comments:
There's just something really weird about this concept. I don't know exactly what it is but they're almost creepy. The one at Chevy Chase Center is awful. There's never anyone there to help you and it's nearly empty every time I've been in it. If this store was a Whole Foods in miniature it would be ok. But this is nothing like WF so don't shop there thinking that's what you're getting .
I still mourn the closing of Chevy Chase Supermarket. Good selection, nice produce, reasonable prices, well-stocked shelves, friendly staff, not part of a huge chain.
2:25 - Great reason to mourn. Not many places like Chevy Chase Super.
I look forward to seeing the new location. I shop at the pavilion location regularly, and it’s fine. I do hope they have regular checkouts as well as automated check out, because that would alienate a good 70% of the clientele I would think.
Same walk out technology as Metrorail's jump over turnstile technology...? Great idea that'll never be taken advantage of!
@10:46 RACIST!
@7:41 AM: I agree with you. They are creepy. These stores are essentially warehouse fulfillment centers disguised as a retail market. Most of the people in there are Amazon Shopper Employees doing orders for pickup or delivery, not regular shoppers.
12:34 - Indeed. I actually don't think both locations (Friendship Heights & Chevy Chase Lake) will make it long term. The checkout experience definitely needs to be sped up at full-size grocers and no doubt innovation will come. But people like to shop where there are other shoppers. Sounds weird to say that but it's true. A totally empty grocery store with seemingly no one to help you and mostly no checkout clerks at all, is something that I don't think will resonate.
What kind of help do you need at a grocery lol
Shopped three times since open. Hugely disappointing. Zero help - the meat and fish counter never had an employee. The deli employee is clearly annoyed to be there. Already found out of date items. Produce has not always been fresh. And prices are meh - definitely not monitoring other local chains' sale prices. Basically an incidental retail operation in a delivery staging facility.
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