The Amazon Fresh store at 325 East Palatine Road in Arlington Heights at Town & Country Center is not the only Amazon grocery store that has sat empty in the past several months. New openings for the Amazon Fresh stores in the United States were paused as Amazon decided to tweak factors such as selection, checkout formats, assortment, and price points (see Financial Times) before pushing forward with new stores in 2023. There are almost 40 Amazon Fresh stores operating in the United States.
The main signs for the Amazon Fresh Arlington Heights store were installed on June 15, 2022 — finally confirming unofficial reports that an Amazon Fresh store was the new grocery store being developed at the location. The store has sat empty in the eight months that have passed since the signs went up in June 2022.
According to a Forbes article by Walter Loeb published February 10, 2023, “Amazon plans to close a number of Amazon Fresh grocery and Amazon Go convenience stores and pause new openings. According to some critics, Amazon’s focus on tech rather than retail experience has put off shoppers. At this time, there are about 38 Amazon Fresh and 28 Amazon Go stores in the U.S.”
Articles in Forbes, diginomica and Financial Times indicate in February 2023 that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has confidence that Amazon has a very significant opportunity in the grocery segment, but that Amazon is “experimenting with these stores to find a format that is differentiated from competitors and resonates with shoppers.”
In a Financial Times article written by Dave Lee Amazon chief vows to ‘go big’ on physical stores, the article content offers a brighter outlook (regarding 2023 intentions) for Amazon Fresh stores.
The February 2023 news among various business news sources offers optimism that wasn’t expressed in Company News from Amazon in November 2022 that reported that there will be reductions impacting employee roles in Stores and the PXT (People, Experience, and Technology) organization.
Optimism wasn’t expressed in early January 2023 either.
After an employee leaked information about role reductions, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy publicly updated information about role reductions on January 4, 2023 — ahead of his preferred plan to communicate first with the people who were directly impacted by role reductions …
“Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles. Several teams are impacted; however, the majority of role eliminations are in our Amazon Stores and PXT organizations.
S-team (i.e., Amazon’s senior leadership team) and I are deeply aware that these role eliminations are difficult for people, and we don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted. We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
We typically wait to communicate about these outcomes until we can speak with the people who are directly impacted. However, because one of our teammates leaked this information externally, we decided it was better to share this news earlier so you can hear the details directly from me. We intend on communicating with impacted employees (or where applicable in Europe, with employee representative bodies) starting on January 18.”
— Andy Jassy, CEO at Amazon/Jan. 4, 2023
Google Listing for Amazon Fresh Arlington Heights Store Removed
A status change was recognized Thursday, February 16, 2023 for the Google listing for the Amazon Fresh Arlington Heights store (Google search) recently developed over the past two years. The store that has not yet opened, and is apparently one of the stores that was paused by Amazon, showed a Google search result listing status as “Permanently Closed” early Thursday, February 16, 2023. After an inquiry by CARDINAL NEWS to Amazon and the Town & Country Center management, the store status changed to “Temporarily Closed” Thursday evening, February 16, 2023. Then Friday, February 17, 2023, the Google search result for Amazon Fresh Arlington Heights did not include a listing for the Arlington Heights store at 345 East Palatine Road at all — for a period Friday there was no listing. Then, later Friday, the Google search result instead referred to the Amazon Fresh Schaumburg store listing at Golf Road and Roselle Road in Schaumburg.
Village of Arlington Heights Business Development Manager Michael Mertes on Wednesday, stated that the Village of Arlington Heights is monitoring the progress of the Amazon Fresh store location in Arlington Heights, and has been informed that Amazon is still committed to opening the Amazon Fresh store in Arlington Heights.
Amazon Fresh “Permanently Closed”
early morning Thursday, February 16, 2023
(SOURCE: Google) …
Amazon Fresh “Temporarily Closed”
late evening Thursday, February 16, 2023
(SOURCE: Google) …
RELATED NEWS …
Forbes | Amazon Is Closing Some Amazon Fresh And Amazon Go Stores – Are Groceries Profitable?
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