Amazon to Close All UK Fresh Stores and Shift Focus Online
Amazon’s experiment with physical grocery shopping in the UK is officially coming to an end. Less than five years after launching its first till-free shop in London, the company has confirmed that all 19 of its Amazon Fresh stores will be closed. It’s a big move that signals just how tough the UK grocery market really is, and it shows Amazon leaning back into what it does best—online delivery.
The Fresh stores were originally introduced with a lot of buzz in 2021. The very first one opened in Ealing Broadway, and it promised a futuristic way to shop. Customers could walk in, grab what they wanted, and simply walk out. Cameras, sensors, and the Amazon app would handle the rest, charging accounts automatically. It sounded like the future of retail, but it never fully caught on. Even though the idea was convenient on paper, many shoppers still felt more comfortable with traditional tills, and once the pandemic faded, the push for contactless shopping seemed to lose its urgency.
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Amazon has already closed a few of these sites before, but now it’s shutting the doors on all of them. Out of the 19, five locations are set to be converted into Whole Foods stores, which is Amazon’s other grocery brand that leans more into fresh, organic, and premium products. If those plans go ahead, the UK could have 12 Whole Foods stores by the end of 2026. The rest of the Fresh outlets—spread mostly across London—will simply close.
Around 250 employees currently work in these stores, and Amazon has said a consultation process has started. The company stressed that redeployment opportunities will be offered where possible, though unions have criticized the decision as careless given Amazon’s vast wealth. Critics argue that staff deserve more stability, and that Amazon’s pattern of quickly launching and scrapping ventures shows little regard for its workers.
From Amazon’s perspective, the decision came after what it called a “thorough evaluation” of operations. The company pointed out that grocery remains a highly competitive market, and that its real opportunities lie in online delivery. Partnerships with Morrisons, Co-op, Iceland, and delivery app Gopuff are already part of that strategy, and new plans are in place to let customers buy fresh items like dairy, meat, and seafood directly through Amazon’s website starting next year.
Analysts aren’t too surprised by this shift. Some say that the Fresh concept lacked a clear edge against UK supermarket giants like Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Others add that while Amazon’s till-less technology was innovative, it often felt a little awkward to use. What the company truly excels at is convenience through delivery, and that’s exactly where it’s turning its focus now.
This isn’t the first time Amazon has pulled back from a new idea. The company is known for experimenting widely—sometimes cutting projects quickly if they don’t work. With this move, one door is closing, but many more van doors are about to open, as Amazon doubles down on getting groceries straight to customers’ homes.
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