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ROCHESTER HILLS — Amazon has closed all of its Amazon Go stores and Amazon Fresh stores, including scrapping plans for one that was anticipated in Rochester Hills.
The retail giant announced the mass closure of all Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores Jan. 27.
“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,” Amazon spokesperson Griffin Buch confirmed in an email. “While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion.”
While Amazon never confirmed where Amazon Fresh locations were slated to open in Michigan, many presumed locations underwent construction over the past few years with facades bearing the brand’s light green and gray design.
According to public records, a presumed Amazon Fresh was slated for a site at 2951 S. Rochester Road in Rochester Hills. The store, however, never materialized.
Griffin said some Amazon Fresh stores will convert to Whole Foods Market stores, while others will close.
“Whole Foods Market will open more than 100 new stores over the next few years, including expansion of Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, providing a broad selection of natural and organic groceries at a great value to customers,” he said in an email. “We will continue inventing on behalf of customers to develop a mass physical store format that brings customers distinctive selection, value, and convenience. Over the coming years, we plan to introduce new store concepts that we think customers will be excited about.”
At press time, Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett said he’s glad Amazon has finally made a decision on the space, which sat empty for multiple years.
“To be honest with you, I’m finally glad that Amazon has made a decision, because they were paying rent and they weren’t there. We want something in there. We want the jobs, and we want the retail connection,” he said. “It wasn’t optimal that they were just taking so long to make a decision.”
Barnett doesn’t think the location will sit empty for long.
“We know the owners of the mall there and we believe that they have already been talking to some folks to backfill it. It’s privately owned, and there are a lot of folks who would like to be in that center, one of the busiest retail centers that we have in the city. I don’t know what will happen there next, but I know it will be a popular spot. I know it won’t be vacant for long,” he added.
Griffin also shared the retail giant’s plans to expand same-day delivery of groceries this year to many more communities, beyond the current 5,000 U.S. cities and towns in which the service is offered.
“Today, Amazon is one of the top three grocers in the U.S., with over $150 billion in gross sales and more than 150 million customers shopping groceries each year. These changes position us to reach even more customers with the fresh, affordable groceries they’re asking for,” Griffin said in an email.
