Amazon Go @ Seattle, WA

Amazon Go

No Lines. No Checkout.

(No Seriously)

Just Walk Out Shopping

Amazon opened a grocery store at the company's Day 1 building ground level, at the intersection of Blanchard St and 7th Ave, Seattle, WA. It is the size of a convenience store, with a window facing deli kitchen and dining area with seats, microwave and cutlery. The store carries a wide variety of deli sandwiches and fresh salads, snacks, drinks including alcohol, and limited selection of everyday essentials. Imagine how convenience for Day 1 employees to grab lunch or a quick snack and/or drink while remaining warm and dry in the cold rainy Seattle winter.

At the main entrance, staffs with bright orange jacket greet customers and hand out reusable shopping bags. It feels like going into an museum exhibition. Behind the glass windows is the kitchen where fresh food is prepared. There were workers in the kitchen on Sunday evening to get ready for Monday opening.

Now the first technology thing behind the main entrance are these row of gates where you tap in, and exit. When you look up, you will see a row of camera and bright light to capture you while you tap in with your smartphone at the gate.

There are 4 entrance gates and 2 exit gates, we tapped our QR code on the barcode reader and entered when the gates open and a green "go" light shows up on the white surface of the gate.

As an inventory management expert, QR codes are sure to be found on every products. Meals prepared in store are sealed with nutrient stickers and has this product code for perishable items.  

Amazon Go exclusive Theo chocolate bar, mug, and Amazon Go vacuum insulated bottle are great souvenir ideas.

Check out this video for a tour of the store.

On this trip, I bought 3 items, a fruit snack, a bottle of Runa Amazon Guayusa tea, and their recommended salad - Steak Nicoise Salad. The steak is very soft and tender, I would definitely recommend this salad to any meat lover.

I got a notification from the Amazon Go App after my visit, and the receipt was ready within a few minutes. To test out the refund function, I refunded the Runa Clean Energy drink on the app, and returned the bottle to the the store associate. I was told that they could not put the returned item back onto the shelf, but only donate them. Look like Amazon Go didn't bother implementing a restock mechanism into their conceptual store. Overall, I would say it was an interesting shopping experience, I even received a nice email from customer service for my refund.

Finally, here are some more pictures of the neighbourhood.

You can schedule a HQ tour or a self guided Audio tour of the Amazon Sphere here.

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