Amazon to Close Fresh and Go Stores to Focus on Delivery, Whole Foods

Amazon plans to close Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores to focus on expanding Whole Foods and delivery services, with more than 100 new Whole Foods locations set to open in the next few years, Brooke DiPalma reported for Yahoo Finance.

Amazon said it plans to evaluate each store to determine which locations can be converted into Whole Foods outlets. (Photo: Amazon) 

Amazon stock rose 1.6% after the company announced plans to close the Amazon-branded stores. Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017.

“While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion,” the company said in a statement.

Amazon said it plans to evaluate each store to determine which locations can be converted into Whole Foods outlets.

The company also plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods locations over the next few years, including through an expansion of its smaller-format concept, Whole Foods Market Daily Shop.

There are currently more than 550 Whole Foods stores worldwide.

“We have a very large grocery business,” CEO Andy Jassy told investors during the company’s earnings call in October.

“If you look at our entire grocery business—even if I don’t count Whole Foods Market and Fresh—in the last 12 months it grew to over $100 billion in gross merchandise sales, which would make us a top-three grocer in the US.”

Amazon is also making same-day delivery a top priority. Last year, the e-commerce giant expanded same-day delivery of perishable goods to more than 5,000 US cities, with further expansion planned for 2026.