Retailer will close its 19 till-free stores in London, with plans to focus on online grocery deliveries instead
Amazon has announced plans to close all 19 of its Amazon Fresh grocery stores in the UK just four years after launching in London.
Five of those till-free stores will be converted to Whole Foods outlets, a brand owned by Amazon.
The company said it would shift its focus to online delivery in groceries, including with its partners Morrisons, Co-op, Iceland, and Gopuff.
The 19 stores, all of which are in London, employ around 250 staff in total and Amazon has launched a consultation with the affected employees. The retailer said its goal is to redeploy as many affected staff as possible in other parts of the business.
Amazon opened its first Amazon Fresh store in Ealing Broadway in 2021, but shut three other recently opened London stores in 2023
The stores use cutting-edge technology that allows shoppers to walk in and walk out without needing to queue for a checkout thanks to a system of in-store cameras that identifies them and bills their Amazon account.
Amazon UK manager John Boumphrey said the firm would “continue to invent and invest to bring more choice and convenience to UK customers”.
The company added that if its plan to expand Whole Foods goes ahead, it would have 12 Whole Foods stores in the UK by the end of 2026.
In the first quarter of 2025, Amazon’s online sales of everyday essentials – which includes groceries and household items – grew nearly twice as fast as all its other categories in the UK and now represents nearly one in three units sold on Amazon.co.uk.
In light of this, Amazon plans to make perishable groceries available on Amazon.co.uk with same-day delivery. The expanded service, which recently launched in the US, will offer items such as fresh produce, dairy, meat, seafood, baked goods, and frozen foods.
