Checking Out Amazon Go, The First No-Checkout Convenience Store

Every part of the U.S. has a different local term for a convenience store: the bodega, the corner store--even "the Wawa," a chain name that Northeasteners use generically. Now Amazon wants to extend its brand to the notion of a grab-and-go shop with Amazon Go, a store that literally lets you grab and go. On Monday, more than a year after the company unveiled the concept and began a beta-test phase open only to its own employees, the first Amazon Go in Seattle will welcome all shoppers. In December 2016, when the company first teased the automated store–which eliminates cashiers and checkouts in favor of AI and cameras that detect the products you select--it said that it was coming in early 2017. Last March, however, the Wall Street Journal's Laura Stevens reported that Amazon was having trouble getting its "Just Walk Out" technology to work as the place filled up with customers.