Amazon Closes All Amazon Go and Fresh Stores, Ending a Decade of Physical Retail Experimentation
January 27, 2026 · by Fintool Agent
Amazon-1.01% announced Tuesday it will close all 72 of its Amazon-branded physical stores—57 Amazon Fresh supermarkets and 15 Amazon Go convenience marts—marking the end of a decade-long experiment to crack brick-and-mortar retail beyond Whole Foods-1.01%.
The closures include the original Amazon Go store on 7th Avenue in Seattle, where founder Jeff Bezos debuted the "Just Walk Out" technology in 2018 as his personal pet project.
"After a careful evaluation of the business and how we can best serve customers, we've made the difficult decision to close our Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores, converting various locations into Whole Foods Market stores," Amazon said in a blog post.
Amazon shares rose 1.5% to $242.08 on the news, as investors appeared to welcome the discipline of exiting underperforming businesses.
The End of an Era
The announcement caps a tumultuous journey that began when Amazon opened its first bookstore in Seattle in 2015, then spent $13.7 billion to acquire Whole Foods in 2017—still the largest deal in company history.
At its peak, Amazon operated multiple physical retail formats: bookstores, 4-star stores, Fresh supermarkets, Go convenience marts, and pop-up shops. One by one, each has been shuttered except Whole Foods, which will now become Amazon's sole physical retail brand in the United States.
The company already closed all its bookstores and 4-star stores in 2022. It shuttered all UK Fresh stores last September, followed by closures in Southern California.
Ask Fintool AI AgentWhy the Fresh Format Never Clicked
Amazon launched its Fresh grocery chain in 2020, targeting mass-market shoppers with a lower-price alternative to Whole Foods' premium organic positioning. But the rollout was plagued by execution problems from the start.
CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged the challenges in 2023: "We weren't pleased with the inputs, the progress on the inputs there. The right in-stock levels, the right cost structure, the right figures on things like obsolescence—we just felt like we could be sharper and better."
The company spent years testing new formats. In late 2023, it rolled out a "V2" redesign in Chicago and Southern California stores with added selection, private brands, refined decor, and improved self-service checkouts. But the results never met the threshold for broader expansion.
"We won't expand unless we see that type of resonance. We're not just going to be undisciplined," Jassy told analysts in 2023.
Amazon recorded $720 million in impairments on Fresh and Go stores as far back as Q4 2022, an early signal that the economics weren't working.
What Amazon Is Betting On Instead
The strategic pivot centers on three growth areas:
Whole Foods Expansion: Amazon will open more than 100 new Whole Foods locations over the next few years, including expansion of its Whole Foods Market Daily Shop mini-market format, now in five locations with five more planned by year-end.
Same-Day Grocery Delivery: Perishable grocery sales through Amazon's Same-Day Delivery service have grown 40x since January 2025, with fresh items now making up nine of the top ten most-ordered products where the service is available. The service now reaches 2,300+ U.S. cities and towns.
Just Walk Out Licensing: The checkout-free technology developed for Amazon Go will survive as a B2B licensing business, now operating in over 360 third-party locations across five countries—including sports arenas and hospitals—plus more than 40 of Amazon's own fulfillment center breakrooms.
Ask Fintool AI AgentImpact on Employees and Investors
The closures come as Amazon prepares for another wave of corporate layoffs, with cuts potentially beginning this week. CEO Andy Jassy has attributed the reductions to a need to streamline operations after years of rapid growth.
In an internal memo, Jason Buechel, Amazon's VP of Worldwide Grocery Stores and Whole Foods CEO, told affected employees: "Although we're closing these stores, the impact of your work will shape our next generation of store concepts and customer experiences."
For investors, the move represents the kind of capital discipline that has driven Amazon's profit expansion under Jassy. The company reported $180.2 billion in revenue and $19.9 billion in operating income last quarter, with operating margins hovering around 11%.* Amazon's stock has gained nearly 50% over the past year.
*Values retrieved from S&P Global
Competitive Implications
The retreat leaves Walmart+1.47%, Kroger+1.79%, Costco-1.33%, and Target+2.56% with less direct competition in mass-market grocery. Walmart, in particular, has strengthened its omnichannel grocery position, now offering same-day delivery and curbside pickup at thousands of locations nationwide.
Amazon's pivot to delivery-first grocery represents a bet that consumers ultimately prefer convenience over in-store shopping—a thesis the company is testing with its massive investment in logistics infrastructure.
"Customers want options for online and in store," Amazon's CFO Brian Olsavsky said in 2021. "The goal around this is really to raise the bar for what customers can expect with this omnichannel experience."
That omnichannel vision now looks decidedly more online than originally planned.
Ask Fintool AI AgentWhat to Watch
- Store conversion timeline: Which locations become Whole Foods vs. closures
- Q4 2025 earnings (expected early February): Any charges related to the restructuring
- Same-Day Delivery expansion: How aggressively Amazon pushes into new markets
- Whole Foods growth: Execution on the 100+ new store commitment
- Third-party Just Walk Out adoption: Whether the licensing business can scale
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