Amazon opens second Whole Foods store with cashierless technology

Amazon is expanding the availability of its “Just Walk Out” autonomous checkout experience in its Whole Foods Market grocery chain.

About a month after introducing cashierless shopping in its Whole Foods chain at a new store in Washington, D.C.’s Glover Park neighborhood, Amazon is now offering the experience at a new Whole Foods location in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Amazon’s Just Walk Out” tech leverages a combination of computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning — similar to what is used in a self-driving car — that enables shoppers to shop the store, select products and skip the checkout when they’re done.

Originally available only in Amazon Go convenience and small-format grocery stores, Amazon has been rolling out the technology to select Amazon Fresh high-tech grocery locations also licenses the technology to third-party retailers.

Whole Foods customers who want to use Just Walk Out shopping can do so in three ways: by scanning the QR code in the Whole Foods Market or Amazon app, hovering their palm using the Amazon One palm-based payment system, or inserting a credit or debit card linked to their Amazon account. Customers who want to use cash, prepaid cards, Whole Foods Market gift cards, EBT, or eWic can use the self-checkout lanes.

Once inside, customers will shop like normal and at the end of their trip, they scan or insert their entry method again to exit. After customers leave the store, those who use the Just Walk Out experience will receive a digital receipt, which will be available in the Whole Foods Market app. Learn more about how the experience works here.

Open as of Wednesday, March 16, 2022, the new location’s assortment places an emphasis on local products from California. Other store features include a juice bar offering smoothies, fresh juices, acai bowls, and variety of coffee and espresso drinks, hot or iced. It also includes a full-service seafood counter, full-service butcher to cut steaks to order or debone poultry, and a prepared foods section with a deli counter and hot and cold food bars.

The store also features a specialty department offering an array of cheese selections, a selection of over 600 beer and wine, a bakery offering fresh-baked breads and grab-and-go desserts, and a wellness and beauty section featuring more than 100 local body care products and supplements.

For now, Amazon plans to observe customer reaction to Just Walk Out when it opens the two new Whole Foods locations and then go from there.

Amazon Prime members who shop at Whole Foods Market have access to a number of benefits year-round, like deep discounts on select popular products each week and an additional 10% off hundreds of in-store sale items. Whole Foods Market has more than 500 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Source: Chain Store Age