Amazon Fresh on the Brink: Is Amazon Done With Running Grocery Stores?
Amazon’s long experiment with physical grocery stores is reaching a critical crossroads and the future of Amazon Fresh now looks more uncertain than ever.
For more than five years, Amazon Fresh was supposed to show how technology could reinvent the everyday supermarket. Instead, the chain has struggled to stand out. With only a few dozen locations, frequent leadership changes and stores that feel ordinary rather than revolutionary, Amazon Fresh has failed to seriously shake the grocery industry. Competitors are not losing sleep over it and shoppers have not embraced it in large numbers.
That matters because grocery is different from other retail experiments Amazon has tried and quietly walked away from. Food shopping is still deeply rooted in physical habits. Most people buy groceries in stores, every week, often without much planning. Amazon knows this, which is why it bought Whole Foods in 2017 and launched Amazon Fresh soon after. The goal was clear. Control both the digital cart and the physical aisle.
But while Amazon Fresh has stalled, something else has taken off. In 2025, Amazon made a major push into same day grocery delivery, especially fresh items like produce, meat, eggs and dairy. For the first time, shoppers in thousands of cities can add a few fresh groceries to a regular Amazon order and get them delivered within hours, without paying high delivery fees. That small shift changes behavior. It turns grocery from a big weekly task into quick, convenient add-ons.
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Amazon executives have openly signaled excitement about this move. Analysts say customers are responding better than expected. Trust, long the biggest barrier in online grocery, may finally be forming. If shoppers believe Amazon can reliably deliver fresh food, the need for a separate Amazon Fresh store network starts to fade.
This raises a serious question. Does Amazon still need to operate Amazon Fresh stores at all?
Some industry watchers believe 2026 could be the year Amazon pulls the plug and shifts fully toward fulfillment centers and digital grocery. Instead of traditional supermarkets, Amazon may focus on warehouses that support ultra-fast delivery, paired with selective physical locations that act as tech labs rather than full grocery stores.
Whole Foods remains the exception. Under Amazon’s ownership, it has grown, strengthened its brand and become deeply integrated into Amazon’s online ecosystem. That success highlights the contrast. Amazon Fresh has not found its identity. Whole Foods already has one.
The bigger picture here is not failure. It is strategy. Amazon may never dominate grocery through brick and mortar stores, but it could still become one of the world’s most powerful omnichannel grocers by blending logistics, data and speed.
This story is about how we buy food, how technology reshapes daily habits and how even the biggest companies must rethink their bets. Stay with us as this story continues to unfold and keep watching for what Amazon does next.
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