Amazon Fresh is closing all 19 of its branches and changing five of them to Whole Foods stores, as rivals circle the remaining 14 branches to claim as their own
A pair of the UK’s biggest supermarkets are battling for scraps of a soon-to-be ex-rival – with plans to open several new stores as a result. Amazon Fresh confirmed recently that it was closing all of its UK stores just as few years after opening.
The American giant revealed plans to close its 19 Amazon Fresh outlets, though it proposes transforming five of these into Whole Foods stores. The company stated this decision forms part of a broader restructuring of its UK grocery operations, with a renewed emphasis on its online business, while bosses insisted it remaind “deeply invested” in the UK.
However, purchases of the 14 remaining stores are being mulled over by both Tesco and Sainsbury’s, Retail Week has claimed.
While the stores will continue to trade as Amazon Fresh until at least December, the 14 branches being sold are all within the Greater London area, with negotiations already underway.
Whichever stores end up in the hands of the supermarket giants, it has been mooted that they will be turned into either Tesco Express branches of Sainbury’s Local stores.
A Sainsbury’s spokesman told RW: We regularly review all site locations that coube be of new interest for our new store pipeline”.
Tesco refused to comment.
Amazon initially launched the Fresh brand in 2021, unveiling its inaugural till-free store in Ealing, featuring technology that enabled customers to depart with their purchases without using a checkout.
Shoppers utilised an app to access the store and were subsequently charged via the platform upon leaving, with an array of cameras and additional technology determining which items they had selected.
Yet the group scaled back substantial expansion plans for the venture as consumer appetite diminished following the end of the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the proposals, the company aims to transform five of the 19 stores into its Whole Foods Market brand, which specialises in organic produce – which it hopes to expand to 12 stores by the end of next year.
John Boumphrey, country manager for Amazon UK, said: “Since 2008, we’ve worked hard to innovate to help our customers save time and money when shopping for groceries and household essentials.
“We continue to invent and invest to bring more choice and convenience to UK customers, enabling them to shop for a wide range of everyday essentials and groceries with low prices and fast delivery through Amazon.co.uk, Amazon Fresh, and Whole Foods Market stores, alongside our third-party grocery partners, including Morrisons, Co-op, Iceland, and Gopuff.”
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