Report: Amazon Plans to Open Dozens of Grocery Stores

Amazon.com Inc. plans to open dozens of grocery stores in U.S. cities, The Wall Street Journal reported, a move that would expand the retail and technology giant's grocery footprint beyond its Whole Foods Market chain.The first of these stores will open in Los Angeles as early as the end of 2019, and Amazon is in talks to open locations in shopping centers in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The company is also exploring the idea of purchasing regional grocery stores, the paper said.The Seattle-based company, which has been experimenting with online delivery of groceries for more than a decade, got into brick-and-mortar food retail with its 2017 purchase of Whole Foods. Amazon has also expanded Amazon Go, its cashierless convenience store concept, to 10 stores. People familiar with the matter said last year that the company planned to open as many as 3,000 of the so-far small-format stores, including up to 50 in 2019.Amazon declined to comment on the Journal report.  Continue reading...