Overview

Amazon announced that it will shutter every Amazon‑branded grocery outlet in the United States, closing all 57 Amazon Fresh supermarkets and 15 Amazon Go convenience stores by early 2026. The closures mark the end of a ten‑year trial with physical retail and signal a shift toward expanding Whole Foods Market locations and accelerating same‑day online grocery delivery. Sellers on Amazon’s marketplace should watch the reallocation of resources, as it may affect logistics capacity and future investment priorities.

Key Points

• All Amazon Fresh and Go stores closing — The entire fleet of 72 Amazon‑branded grocery sites will cease operations, ending the cashier‑less experiment that began with Amazon Go in 2018 and the larger Fresh format launched in 2020.
• Majority shut by March 1 2026 — Most locations will close on that date; California stores receive an extra 45‑day window to satisfy state labor‑notice rules.
• Some sites will become Whole Foods — Selected former Fresh locations will be rebranded as Whole Foods Market stores as part of a plan to open more than 100 new Whole Foods venues over the next several years.
• Hundreds of employees will be reassigned — Amazon is moving affected staff into other roles, such as fulfillment‑center positions, although the exact headcount has not been disclosed.
• Same‑day grocery delivery will expand — The company will push its rapid‑delivery service into additional markets, now covering over 5,000 U.S. cities and planning further growth in 2026.

How the Store Closures Work

1. Announcement and notification — Amazon publicly disclosed the closure plan in early 2024 and sent formal termination notices to each store’s local management team. For example, a Fresh store in Chicago received a written notice outlining the March 1, 2026 shutdown date and the steps required to wind down operations.
2. Employee transition planning – Human‑resources teams begin mapping current staff to open roles within Amazon’s broader network. A Go store in Seattle, employing 30 associates, was offered transfers to nearby fulfillment centers or customer‑service hubs, with relocation assistance where needed.