Amazon today officially took the wraps of its long-awaited new store concept in Woodland Hills, California, under the banner Amazon Fresh.
Located at 6245 Topanga Canyon Blvd. the 35,000-square-foot store is not intended to open several weeks wide to the general public, according to Jeff Helbling, vice president of Amazon Fresh stores. But as of today, Amazon is sending out email invitations to thousands of local consumers to be the first of Amazon Fresh this week, he said. Hours of operation will be daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
A newly built supermarket, the Woodland Hills Amazon Fresh offers an extensive selection of fresh produce, meat and seafood.
“We announce our first Amazon Fresh supermarket. It’s a new grocery store designed to offer a smooth shopping experience, whether customers shop in-store or online, ‘Helbling said in an interview. “With this new store, we have taken our decades of operating experience at Amazon to consistently deliver low prices for everyone and free same-day shopping for Prime members.”
Technology plays a big role in making Amazon Fresh’s shopping experience more convenient, he notes. Shoppers will be able to use the multifunctional Amazon Dash Cart, announced mid-July, to find items, track purchases and checkout, while new features of Amazon’s Virtual Assistant Alexa will help customers manage shopping lists and the aisles of ‘ navigate the store.
“This is the first store where customers will use our recently announced Dash Cart. We are very excited for customers to try it out,” said Helbling, adding that he was a beta tester for the device. is a smart choice that helps speed up your shopping by skipping your checkout. “
A newly built supermarket, the Woodland Hills Amazon Fresh offers an extensive selection of fresh produce, meat and seafood, as well as an array of baked and prepared foods that are made fresh daily by the store’s culinary team. Customers will also find a wide range of national brands and retail labels, including brands from Amazon and its Whole Foods Market subsidiary.
“In terms of selection, you’ll see all the items you’d expect to see in any full-service store,” Helbling said.
News of a new concept of Amazon’s supermarkets, apart from Whole Foods, emerged in the fall of 2019, when The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was planning a new chain of stores in Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Amazon Echo Show devices are deployed in-store so retailers can ask Alexa’s virtual assistant for help.
The Journal said at the time that the Seattle-based e-tailer had signed more than a dozen leases in the Los Angeles area, including Woodland Hills, which would be part of more stores that are open nationwide, including potential locations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Amazon later confirmed plans for the Woodland Hills location only – although they did not specify a store banner – as speculation continued. Industrial buzz was rekindled in late February when Amazon opened a convenience store concept called Amazon Go Grocery. The 10,400-square-foot location in Seattle features a curated grocery selection and the cashless technology “Just Walk Out” used in the more than two dozen Amazon Go convenience stores in Seattle, New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
More recently, in an August 6 post, food / tech blogger Matt Newberg of HNGRY said that public records indicated that Amazon intended to open at least 15 retail supermarkets under the Amazon Fresh brand in Southern California, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania. that would create “a digitally integrated experience unique to the industry.”
Same-day shopping and pick-up are offered directly from the Amazon Fresh store, and deliveries are free to Prime members.
Helbling said Amazon Fresh store locations have already been revealed, including Irvine and Northridge, California – which, along with the Woodland Hills store, placed online orders during the COVID-19 pandemic – and a location in North Hollywood that “soon opens.” An as yet unopened Amazon Fresh store in Naperville, Ill., Is also filling delivery orders, and two more Chicago area locations in Oak Lawn and Schaumburg, he added.
“Beyond the locations we’ve already announced, I can no longer respond to our expansion plans,” Helbling said. Amazon also acquired two fairgrounds for Fairway Market in Paramus and Woodland Park, NJ in March, but has not announced plans for the locations.
Within the Woodland Hills Amazon Fresh, shoppers will see “consistently low prices” on fresh food and and groceries for both national and private labels, according to Helbling.
“Our Fresh brand offers great value on meat, seafood and bakery items,” he said. For example, natural brand fresh whole chicken without added hormones sells for 99 cents / lb., A 3 lbs. bag with onions costs $ 1.69 and 10-ounce box of Quaker Oatmeal runs $ 2.50 for all tastes.
“Customers generally expect low prices and large selections from Amazon, and we think they will also be surprised and delighted with the quality of our prepared food,” said Helbling. “Our culinary team offers a wide range of customer favorites that are made in-store every day, from baked breads and pizzas to order to rotisserie and baked chicken and hot breads.” There is also a full-service deli department that offers grab-and-go options for hot and cold food.
Custom pizza is among the options for prepared meals at the Amazon Fresh in Woodland Hills.
Brands that Amazon Fresh customers will find in the store include national names such as Coca-Cola and Kraft Mac & Cheese; local brands such as Rockenwagner Bakery and Groundworks Coffee; regional favorites like Duke’s mayonnaise (South Carolina) and Ellenos yogurt (Seattle); the organic market 365 at Whole Foods Market; and new exclusive brands from Amazon such as Cursive. “Cursive is a new exclusive wine brand. We offer a selection of red and white at a great value, ‘said Helbling.
Customers can also earn 5% back at Amazon Fresh by using the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card or Amazon Prime Store Card at checkout.
On the e-commerce side, same-day delivery and pick-up are offered directly from the Amazon Fresh store. Customers can pick up their orders at the store’s service counter or by parking at a designated pick-up location. Published reports earlier this year said the Woodland Hills Amazon Fresh housed a Dematic-automated micro-fulfillment center on-site to fill online orders, but Helbling said that is not the case.
“We do not have the Dematic solution you mentioned,” he said in the interview. “Right now, fulfillment is done by hand, through a manual.”
The Woodland Hills Amazon Fresh marks the first public use of the Smart Dash Cart shopping cart.
The Amazon Fresh store also serves as a site for Amazon.com ordering and free “package-less” product returns, “which simply means customers do not need a box or shipping ticket to return an item,” Helbling explained. “They just bring the item to the counter, and we’ll pack it and ship it for free.”
Although conventional shopping carts are offered, a central part of Amazon Fresh’s convenience offering is the Amazon Dash Cart. The “intelligent” choice uses computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to identify items that are placed in the choice of choice. Customers sign in to their Amazon account by scanning the Amazon app’s QR code with the reader at hand, placing bags in the basket and then starting shopping. The selection beeps to indicate that the barcode of a product has been read and registered. A running count of purchases is displayed on the selection screen. When you shop, customers go through the Dash Cart lane to complete their payment automatically.
“Essentially, you sign in to your Amazon app, you shop and you run out,” Helbling said.
When customers enter the store, they can also access their Alexa shopping list through the Amazon app or Dash Cart, allowing them to quickly navigate through the aisles to find the products they want and check them out when they shop. Amazon Echo Show devices are also deployed in-store, allowing shoppers to ask Alexa’s virtual assistant for assistance, such as by saying, “Alexa, where can I find the hot sauce?”
“We are very excited to introduce the Amazon Fresh Grocery Store to customers and this week to open our doors to our first set of customers in Woodland Hills,” said Helbling.
COVID-19 safety measures at the Woodland Hills Amazon Fresh reflect teachings from Whole Foods, he added. They include daily temperature checks for all employees, face masks for all employees and customers entering the store, free disposable masks for shoppers who need one, and a 50% limit on customer capacity to promote social distance, among other efforts.
