Amazon Go: Cashier-free grocery store coming to Chicago

Diane Pathieu Image
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Amazon Go: Cashier-free grocery store coming to Chicago
It's a whole new shopping concept, all on the go. Amazon Go is a new kind of store, with no checkouts and no cashiers.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- It's a whole new shopping concept, all on the go. Amazon Go is a new kind of store, with no checkouts and no cashiers.

Amazon promises customers will never have to wait in line or pull out your wallet.

Using the Amazon Go App to enter, it implements what the company calls "walk out technology." Cameras watch you walk in and watch what you take. Sensors automatically detect which products are taken off the shelf and then customers are charged through their Amazon account.

While shoppers won't get face-to-face interaction at checkout, the company said there will be plenty of human employees restocking shelves, checking ID for wines and working security.

The company opened an Amazon Go store in Seattle in January and has another store planned for San Francisco. The Chicago store would be built at 203 North LaSalle Street, in the heart of the Loop.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the news of the store opening Tuesday morning. Job listings for manager and assistant manager are already online.

The future of shopping may soon be heading to Chicago, but some people have mixed feelings.

"I don't know, I like my local grocery store. It would also depend on what products they have," said Suzanne Maso, who may use the store.

"We are actually doing it now with everything anyway, so it's probably the future," said Chris Osborne, who would use the store.

Another woman in Chicago said she'd still like to have face-to-face interaction with cashiers and baggers.

Amazon is already in the grocery business. In addition to its own selection of food available for purchase online and the Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service, Amazon owns Whole Foods. It bought the upscale chain in June 2017 for $13.7 billion.

While the Amazon Go store in Seattle doesn't bear Whole Foods' branding, it does stock plenty of the store's signature 365 brand products.

There is no word yet on when the Amazon Go store would open in Chicago.

The city is also still one of the front runners for Amazon's Headquarters 2. The decision on where that location will be should be made by the end of the year.

CNN contributed to this report.