Amazon Fresh Opens Largest Store in Illinois With Just Walk Out Tech
In its mission to change the way customers shop for groceries, Amazon has opened its largest Fresh store with Just Walk Out technology, in Westmont, Ill.
Located at 30 W 63rd Street, the approximately 35,000-square-foot store uses Just Walk Out tech to give customers the option of skipping the checkout line. Customers enter the store by scanning the In-Store QR code in their Amazon app to open the Just Walk Out gates. Once inside the store, customers can shop as they normally would. Anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart, and anything put back on the shelf comes out of their virtual cart. At the end of their trip, customers simply scan the In-Store QR code in their Amazon app again to exit.
Customers also have the option to use traditional checkout lanes staffed by employees, and pay by cash, SNAP EBT, credit or debit card.
Amazon Fresh features 365 by Whole Foods Market organics, plus national brands like Coca-Cola and Kraft Mac and Cheese, local brands like Revolution Brewing and Lillie’s Q BBQ sauce, regional favorites like Duke’s Mayo and Boston Chowda, and new Amazon exclusive brands like Aplenty and Cursive.
To celebrate the Westmont store’s grand opening, the store is hosting festivities all weekend long, including giveaways, free samples, a DJ, and special deals and discounts on items, including:
- Butterball Premium All-Natural Frozen Turkeys for 99 cents/pound
- Organic asparagus for $2.99/bunch
- Chicken pot pies for $3.99 each
- 50% all Aplenty products
Customers shopping the Westmont location can also take advantage of a coupon for $10 off an order of $20 or more, or $20 off an order of $50 or more, found in their weekly Amazon Fresh circular, for shopping trips made at the store until Thanksgiving Day.
The Westmont location, the fifth Amazon Fresh store to open in Illinois, will help support its community by donating surplus items from the store to local food banks.
Meanwhile, Amazon recently released its third-quarter earnings, noting that sales at the company's physical stores, which includes Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh stores, increased 13% to nearly $4.3 billion. The company said in September that it will continue to roll out its Just Walk Out technology at two Whole Foods Market stores in Washington, D.C., and Sherman Oaks, Calif., next year.
Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods, is No. 26 on PG's list.
