Amazon continues to redefine the retail landscape with the launch of its innovative “Amazon Grocery” store concept in Chicago’s prestigious Near North Side. This new grocery destination, situated in a 3,800-square-foot retail space within a high-rise building, marks the next significant step in Amazon’s evolving supermarket strategy. Located at 3 W. Chicago, this store occupies the former coffee shop space of the Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market, creating a unique synergy within the One Chicago Building.
Alt text: Exterior view of the new Amazon Grocery store in Chicago, showcasing its entrance and signage.
This pioneering Amazon Food Store is designed to cater to the needs of Whole Foods Market’s clientele while also attracting a broader customer base seeking convenience and a wide selection of grocery items. With an inventory of 3,500 products, the store is specifically tailored for shoppers looking for quick and efficient grocery runs, coffee, and ready-to-eat meals. It aims to be the ideal spot for both immediate consumption and those essential grocery top-ups.
Stepping inside the Amazon Grocery, customers are greeted with a familiar yet distinct grocery environment. Unlike Whole Foods Market which focuses on natural and organic products, Amazon Grocery boasts a comprehensive range of name-brand favorites commonly found in traditional supermarkets. Shoppers can readily find Coca-Cola, Fritos, and Folgers coffee alongside other household staples.
Alt text: Interior view of Amazon Food Store aisles filled with various packaged grocery products and electronic shelf labels.
The store layout features six conventional aisles stocked with packaged goods, ensuring easy navigation and product discovery. Adding to the in-store experience are appealing sections like a coffee bar for freshly brewed beverages, a chilled drinks area, and a selection of ready-made sandwiches and sushi for quick meal solutions. A dedicated baked goods counter further entices customers with donuts, muffins, and cookies. Promotional signage both outside and inside the store highlights attractive deals, such as buy-one-get-one-free offers on popular items like Red Baron pizza and Lay’s potato chips, enhancing value for shoppers.
Amazon’s strategic vision for this Amazon Food Store is clearly defined: to complement the offerings of Whole Foods Market. As stated by Amazon, “Customers shopping at Whole Foods Market today are looking for natural and organic products. However, we know that many of them also visit additional stores to grab their favorite national grocery brands or household essentials to complete their weekly shop.” This new format directly addresses this consumer behavior, providing a convenient option for those seeking both organic and conventional grocery items in a single shopping trip to the One Chicago Building. Amazon emphasizes its commitment to offering diverse shopping experiences, stating, “Through Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, Whole Foods Market, third-party grocery partners, and this new shopping experience, we offer a wide selection of national and local brands plus fresh, high-quality produce, meat, and seafood.”
This Amazon Food Store concept emerges as Amazon refines its overall grocery strategy. Following a pause in 2023, Amazon resumed the expansion of Amazon Fresh stores, opening new locations over the summer in Bensalem, Penn.; Eatontown, N.J.; and Arlington Heights, a Chicago suburb. Simultaneously, Whole Foods Market is also experimenting with smaller formats, having launched its first Whole Foods Market Daily Shop in New York City’s Lenox Hill neighborhood in September. While the Daily Shop is smaller than traditional Whole Foods stores, it is still substantially larger than the compact Amazon Grocery concept, indicating different strategic focuses for each format. Further Whole Foods Market Daily Shop locations are planned for New York’s East Village and Hell’s Kitchen, suggesting a multi-pronged approach to physical grocery retail by Amazon and its subsidiaries.
Alt text: Amazon Food Store self-checkout area with multiple lanes and digital payment interfaces.
Jessica Martin, an Amazon spokesperson, highlighted the customer-centric approach behind this new venture: “We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for customers to shop for groceries, whether online or in store. We’re testing and learning with a new grocery shopping experience with a small-format store from Amazon under the same roof as Whole Foods Market in the One Chicago building. With this new concept, customers can shop their favorite natural and organic products at Whole Foods Market and get a broader product assortment from Amazon all in one trip, saving them time and money.”
Interestingly, while Amazon Grocery offers a broad selection of groceries and household items, it notably does not feature Amazon’s private-label products, including the recently launched discount line, Amazon Saver. This line, introduced in early September, includes approximately 100 products priced at $5 or less. The absence of private labels in this initial Amazon Food Store may be part of the testing and learning phase, allowing Amazon to gauge customer preferences for national brands in this particular format.
To enhance the shopping experience, Amazon Grocery incorporates several technological features. The store is equipped with four self-checkout lanes, providing speed and convenience for customers. It also serves as a convenient location for Amazon.com returns. Electronic shelf labels are deployed throughout the store, ensuring accurate and dynamic pricing information. For Amazon Prime members, the store offers seamless payment options. Customers can utilize a kiosk to scan a QR code via the Amazon app to charge purchases to their Amazon account. Additionally, an Amazon One kiosk enables Prime members to use palm scanning for payment, further streamlining the checkout process.
Despite being located in the same building, Amazon Grocery and Whole Foods Market operate independently. However, their proximity offers a unique shopping synergy. Customers can easily visit both stores in a single trip, using an escalator to access the upstairs Whole Foods Market after shopping at Amazon Grocery. While the product selections differ significantly between the two stores, some overlapping items exist, such as Tropicana orange juice. Notably, the price for the same 45 fl. oz. bottle of Tropicana orange juice is $3.99 at Amazon Grocery compared to $4.49 at Whole Foods Market upstairs, highlighting potential price variations and value propositions within the Amazon ecosystem.
The launch of Amazon Grocery coincides with Amazon’s broader strategy to integrate its various grocery entities. In October, Amazon announced modifications to 26 Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers to include select Whole Foods Market products, enabling customers to combine products from both stores in online orders. Furthermore, Amazon is constructing its first automated micro fulfillment center at a Whole Foods Market in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., to facilitate online orders encompassing products from Amazon Fresh and Amazon.com. This initiative, along with a program allowing shoppers to combine purchases from Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, and Whole Foods in a single order, underscores Amazon’s commitment to creating a unified and comprehensive grocery shopping experience across its diverse platforms.
In conclusion, the debut of Amazon Grocery in Chicago represents a significant experiment in Amazon’s physical grocery retail strategy. By focusing on convenience, national brands, and technological integration, Amazon Food Store aims to capture a distinct segment of the grocery market, complementing the established presence of Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh. This new format will undoubtedly provide valuable insights as Amazon continues to innovate and expand its footprint in the competitive grocery industry.
