Dive Brief:

• Amazon has closed its Amazon Go location at 5th Avenue and Marion Street in Seattle, a spokesperson confirmed by email. The closure was first reported on Tuesday by GeekWire.
• The location opened in August 2018, and was the second store to open under Amazon’s frictionless c-store brand. 
• So far, 2023 has been a tough year for Amazon Go. This closure comes about three and a half months after the company announced it would be closing eight of its automated-checkout convenience stores — two each in Seattle and New York City and four in San Francisco. It also announced in February that it has paused the rollout of its Amazon Fresh grocery stores.

Dive Insight:

With this latest closure, Amazon Go now has 22 locations in four states, according its website. It has not opened a new location since debuting a suburban store in Puyallup, Washington, shortly before the March closures.

The Amazon spokesperson didn’t say why the company decided to close the Seattle location at 5th and Marion, which was situated at the base of an office tower, according to Geekwire. Urban stores that rely on office workers to fuel sales have struggled as employers shifted to work-from-home policies during the pandemic. 

Amazon has said that it will continue opening Go stores, though the focus of late has been on its larger suburban locations that feature a made-to-order kitchen. 

Further, Amazon has made thousands of layoffs over the last year as it focuses on becoming a “leaner” company, CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo to workers back in March. 

While Amazon-run stores are taking a more measured approach in the past few months, the technology they’re built around has continued to make inroads with other retailers. This includes a convenience store at Marymount University and a grocery store in Kansas City.

“From grocers and c-stores to retailers in stadiums, airports, and more, there are now more than 50 third-party stores across the U.S., Australia, and UK powered by Just Walk Out technology, with new locations launching every month.,” said the spokesperson.