Anonymous wrote:https://wjla.com/news/local/amazon-go-amazon-fresh-closed-whole-foods-markets-closed-physical-grocery-store-online-shopping-food-retail

They only started opening most of these stores around Covid so they lasted around 5 years or less. Whomp whomp …

Some may become Whole Foods locations or a smaller format Whole Foods called “Whole Foods Daily Shop.”

Can honestly say I never entered either of these stores.

Too bad for the people who lost their jobs

Anonymous wrote:Hasn’t the one at White Oak been open for barely two years??

I liked their produce prices and they always had HD ice cream for $4 a pint when everyone else went to $6 or even $7.

I will miss our Gaithersburg AF. It saved me a lot of money and half of my trips to the Kentlands Whole Foods. It was also amazing to buy a single cheap 12 pack of Diet Coke or Ginger Ale without the whole "Must Buy 3" nonsense at Safeway.

It would be great to have a Whole Foods there (Kentlands really is stretched beyond capacity), but I doubt they will do it.

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Anonymous wrote:Amazon Fresh sucks. The one in Chevy was mostly processed foods, mediocre produce, and limited stock of everything. No clue why someone would shop there.

Proximity, low prices for a lot of items, and much longer hours than the lovely old family grocery that used to sit in the same spot. Plus Amazon returns and a wine bar next door. I agree the restocking seemed awful and a lot of the staff were constantly stoned. And it's freezing all year round for some reason. But not having to get in the car and sit in stupid Bethesda or Kensington traffic? Priceless!

I love this post. The parking lot smelled like week 24/7.

One of the bright spots in my day was reading this and thinking that Bezos might have lost some money. Suck it, Jeff.

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Anonymous wrote:The one in Baileys Crossroads is always busy. It used to be a Safeway, definitely lacks a grocery in that area.

That one is also pretty new. Hopefully it just gets flipped into a Whole Foods.

Whole foods isn't surviving in Seven Corners....

There is a whole foods about a mile away from 7 corners already.

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Anonymous wrote:Good Whole Foods will be far better.

Agree but I’m not sure which locations will become Whole Foods and which won’t. Surely the one in Friendship Heights won’t be a Whole Foods because there’s already a Whole Foods like a hundred yards away.

It seemed like a lot of Amazon Fresh stores weren’t in hugely rich areas. Lorton and Alexandria (Fairfax County) both had them and while they both have nice areas, they aren’t what you think of as Whole Foods upscale. Plus they already turned the old Giant in Springfield Plaza into a WF and that’s pretty nearby both stores. Seems like a lot of the stores will just be empty. They are weird sizes too, too small to be a full size grocery store but too large for a smaller store like Lidl, Aldi, or Trader Joe’s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one in Baileys Crossroads is always busy. It used to be a Safeway, definitely lacks a grocery in that area.

That one is also pretty new. Hopefully it just gets flipped into a Whole Foods.

Whole foods isn't surviving in Seven Corners....

Anonymous wrote:Good Whole Foods will be far better.

Agree but I’m not sure which locations will become Whole Foods and which won’t. Surely the one in Friendship Heights won’t be a Whole Foods because there’s already a Whole Foods like a hundred yards away.

Anonymous wrote:NOOOO! I live near the Amazon Fresh at Chevy Chase Lake and it's been so amazing to have a grocery store with long hours within walking distance. I hope they keep something there; it seems fairly busy....

We are walking distance from there as well and while the store wasn’t great the community REALLY wanted a grocery store there and I’m not sure what will take its place. RIP Chevy Chase Supermarket, forever in our hearts.

60% off today. It was like shopping in the 90s.

I knew it was to fail.

No on wants their every move recorded by 80,000 camera and watched by people overseas its just really, really strange. Then that data and movements be sold. Insanity.

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Anonymous wrote:The concept never made any sense to me either. The one in Gaithersburg was first introduced, then they stopped building it and it sounded like it was dead but then a short time later it was built out and now this?

Sound more like a building permit issue.

Had nothing to do with permits, it was an internal freeze. I was part of the team that opened the first dozen or so stores and it was doomed from the start. The first opening was such a mess employees went to Target, Walmart etc to buy stuff just to stock shelves.

The Rockville store on Shady Grove Rd situation was bizarre. They spent months converting it from the old Office Depot, put new signage up, and then decided to pause and left it sitting for at least 18 months. They should do the right thing and open a Whole Foods there.

There were two major issues. One, almost the entire leadership team turned over. Two, a bunch of stores were being built out as Just Walk Out with the camera arrays to be like Amazon Go. There was flip flopping here so some stores had construction stopped to now install them when it wasn’t planned but mostly stores that had them now had to have the system ripped out. Eventually a new leader came in and the entire project was paused before resuming a few stores and refreshing to try and find a new model.

Sounds like a shit-show.