Amazon plans to close eight of its stores without a cashier Go to convenience stores in Seattle, New York and San Francisco, marking the company’s latest round of cost-cutting measures.
The affected stores — two in Seattle, two in New York and four in San Francisco — will close April 1 and operate as usual until then, Amazon said. Both Seattle locations have been closed for some time.
“Like any brick-and-mortar retailer, we periodically evaluate our store portfolio and make optimization decisions along the way,” an Amazon spokesperson said in an email. “We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the United States, and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we continue to evolve our Amazon Go stores.”
Despite the closures, the company said it will continue to open Go stores, including its new location in Puyallup, Washington. Last year, Amazon opened its first suburban Go store in Mill Creek, Washington.
The retail giant also said it was working with affected employees to identify other roles in the business, including other nearby Go stores.
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The first Amazon Go store opened to the public in 2018 at the company’s headquarters in Seattle. The stores have Just Walk Out Technology which allows customers to skip the line as sensors and cameras detect what shoppers are removing from the shelves.
News of store closures comes after Amazon construction on pause from its second headquarters, known as HQ2, in Virginia following the biggest round of layoffs.
Amazon Go shutdowns have already been reported by Geekwire.