Grocery Shopping at the Automated No Check Out Self Served Amazon Go Store, SF

We visited the Amazon Go Store in San Francisco recently.

While we were visiting downtown SF, we walked by the first cashierless grocery store - the Amazon Go store. I heard about this store on the news last year after our visit to this city.

The first no check out grocery store in America.

Out of curiosity, we went in to take a look. There was a gentleman standing at the entrance trying to explain to potential customers such as us how the store worked.

He informed us that if we had an account,  we could just walk in, pick up grocery items and walk out of the store upon completing our purchase.

Should we pick up something but put it back on the shelf, the computer would know that we did not purchase that item and there would be no charge.

The shelves were stocked mainly with ready to go meals.

The most attractive part of the store was that there would be no line up, no need to pay cash or credit to any cashier at the door. Amazon Go store would send a receipt to us charging us on our visa card.

Amazon Go Store was quite empty when we went shopping there.

We went in the store and browsed around. It was about 4p.m. in the afternoon but the store was very empty.












We picked up three boxes of ice cream, and some snacks and just walked out of the door. No line up, no need to pay anyone as there was nobody at the exit. No cashier, nobody.

Did I enjoy shopping at the store? Would I come back again to the Amazon Go Store? I asked myself.

No! Part of the fun of going shopping is interacting with people, asking questions and talking to store employees.






I enjoy personal service and chatting with store employees. I found shopping at the Amazon Go Store dehumanize, and an impersonal experience.  If I have a question about an item, who would I go to and who would help me?

One question that puzzles me is this: North Americans value their privacy highly. However, shopping at the Amazon Go Store gives away much of our privacy such as our very personal information regarding our address, contact information, shopping habits, what items we buy, our product preferences and even our life style and choices.  Many of us object to security cameras being installed in our cities citing breach of privacy. Why on earth would we allow Amazon to know exactly what we buy for me and my family daily and how much we spend monthly on our groceries?

May be this is the reason why the Amazon Go Store is not as popular as the company has anticipated. It was opened exactly a year ago but it has a long way to go before it can be widely accepted.

R.T.
Amazon Go Store
San Francisco
U.S.A.