After four years of silence, Amazon confirmed last month that the “Amazon Go team is running internal tests” at a prime retail location in Seattle’s popular Capitol Hill neighborhood that is much larger than the tech giant’s typical cashier-less store. It turns out the store may be part of a push to expand the Amazon Go technology to a larger supermarket-style format.
Bloomberg reported that the tech giant wants to open Amazon Go stores as big as 30,000 square feet, the size of a typical supermarket. Amazon could begin opening these larger stores as soon as next year, Bloomberg reported, and the tech giant is also exploring licensing the technology behind Amazon Go to other retailers.
An Amazon Go spokesperson declined to comment
Rumblings of larger Amazon Go stores first circulated late last year. Amazon has so far opened or announced 24 Go locations in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and New York. They are all in the range of about 2,000 square feet.
Reports of larger Amazon Go stores come as the tech giant embarks on a plan for a separate grocery store format. Amazon confirmed plans for its “first grocery store” under the new format in the Los Angeles area. It will have traditional check stands.
