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Amazon Fresh Sign Comes Down In Brookfield. Are Grocery Stores Still Opening There And In Westport?

BROOKFIELD — Last summer Amazon Fresh piqued interest here and across greater Danbury about opening its first grocery store in Connecticut by installing a green and white sign over the entrance of an empty storefront at Candlewood Lake Plaza.

Now that the sign has come down, following a month of speculation after Amazon's CEO announcement that the company is pausing the rollout of new Fresh grocery stores to tinker with the business model, is the writing on the wall?

"The only thing I'm concerned about is we don't know what is going to happen," said Greg Dembowski, Brookfield's community development specialist on Monday. "During my last conversation with them, which was about one month ago, the last thing they said was they were still committed to Brookfield, but they didn't know when they would open or when they would make that decision."

Amazon officials could not immediately be reached Monday to explain why the new sign was taken down over the storefront entrance on Candlewood Lake Road.

For the moment, the sign coming down seems to be all that has happened. Amazon has not withdrawn its application, according to Dembowski.

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"They had a significant investment in this building and we believe they were really close to opening," Dembowski said. "We haven't received a permit request for any demolition or removal of their equipment."

Nor has Amazon Fresh withdrawn its application to locate what would be a second grocery store at Post Plaza in Westport, a planning and zoning official confirmed on Monday.

At the same time, Amazon Fresh's hiring efforts seem to have stopped for the Brookfield location. Last summer, Amazon Fresh announced with Brookfield's economic development team the hiring of a store manager, an assistant store manager and other positions ranging from overnight associates to dayside prepared food workers.

Interested applicants were encouraged to visit Amazon's job site and type in "Brookfield" for more specifics. On Monday a search for Brookfield on that site produced no results.

The sign coming down follows news in February where Amazon executives acknowledged they are pausing new Amazon Fresh grocery stores while they adjust the business model.

"We're doing a fair bit of experimentation today in those stores to try to find a format that we think resonates with customers," said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, during a February conference call. "We've decided over the last year or so that we're not going to expand the physical Fresh (stores) until we have that equation with differentiation and economic value that we like — but we're optimistic that we're going to find that in 2023."

Dembowski said he hasn't heard from Amazon since it renewed its commitment to Brookfield in February.

"The only thing I know is what they tell me," Dembowski said. "I am still hopeful they will be here."

Is Amazon Fresh Still On Track To Open In Brookfield?

BROOKFIELD, CT — The large green and white sign above the empty storefront in Candlewood Plaza has been taken down, but does that mean Amazon Fresh is no longer on track to open up shop in Brookfield?

Greg Dembowski, Brookfield's economic development specialist, said he spoke with Amazon Fresh executives about six weeks ago, and had gotten no indication of any change regarding their plans to open in Candlewood Plaza.

But in an email to Patch, Dembowski also said he has "tried to reach them since but have not received a return phone call or message."

Amazon plays its expansion cards notoriously close to its corporate vest. Clues to the future tenant in the space most recently occupied by TJ Maxx at 14 Candlewood Lake Road began to trickle out only in the beginning of May 2022, when the company began posting job openings for Amazon Fresh workers in Brookfield online. Those listings are now gone.

There's been a shift in the retail giant's economic outlook since the company opened its first Amazon Fresh store, a 35,000-square-foot operation in a strip mall in Woodland Hills, CA, in 2017.

On a Feb. 2 earnings call, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the retail giant was "working really hard to streamline our costs and trying to do so at the same time that we don't give up on the long-term strategic investments that we believe can meaningfully change broad customer experiences and change Amazon over the long term."

The stock price lost almost half its value in 2022, closing out its slowest annual growth as a public company. Amazon announced it would "pause expansion of Fresh stores to examine the business and see if it resonates with customers," CNBC reported. Continued expansion would occur when the company was in a position "where we like the economics."

Amazon Fresh Opens First 'till-less' Grocery Store In UK

Amazon has opened its first "just walk out" grocery store in the UK where shoppers can pick up their goods and leave without having to visit a till.

The Amazon Fresh store in Ealing, west London, is a "contactless" shop available to anyone signed up to Amazon and with the app on their phone. Customers must scan in a code on their phone to gain entry.

Amazon's first 'just walk out' shop outside the United States. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

Once inside, shoppers can pick up the goods they want without scanning them or even visiting a till. Sensors on the shelves detect when an item has been removed while cameras and other technology backed by artificial intelligence monitor individuals' movement around the store and the goods chosen. The bill is automatically charged to a shopper's Amazon account when they leave the store.

While customers will not need to interact with a member of staff, the store will employ about 30 people and have about five workers on site at any time to handle queries, restock shelves and prepare food.

The store will stock about 10,000 grocery products including brands such as Heinz and Kelloggs, and items from Morrisons, Booths and Mindful Chef. Amazon is also launching its first own grocery brand at the store – By Amazon – which includes frequently bought items such as milk and bread as well as pizzas, dips and cakes.

The store, which measures 2,500 sq ft, has a service desk to return or pick up other items bought on Amazon, and self-service coffee machines.

Queues formed outside the store on Thursday morning as dozens of curious shoppers – and executives from rivals including Lidl and Tesco – turned up to try out the novel experience.

Teresa De La Rosa said she wanted to be one of the first to visit. "I am an early adopter. I can't wait to see how this new technology works and I think it is going to be everywhere shortly. I look forward to going round Waitrose and not having to wait at the till," said the 59-year-old shopper.

Inside, the store is similar to many mainstream supermarkets' small convenience stores, with fresh baked croissants and fruit and vegetables as well as ready meals, cleaning products and toiletries. Its hot and cold takeaway foods seem inspired by the likes of Pret a Manger, with wraps, falafel salads and macaroni and cheese boxes.

While several people in the queue required help to access the store, inside most marvelled at the ease of the shopping experience.

Carl Knibbs, 45, said he was a regular Amazon customer but had popped in because he was passing. "I'm absolutely impressed. It's busy today but when the attention dies down it will be really straightforward." He said that walking out without paying a cashier did feel slightly weird but the presence of lots of others doing the same made it normal.

The online retailer is thought to have 10 sites for additional Amazon Fresh stores lined up in the UK after three years of research. Additional outlets are expected to open in Greater London in the near future.

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Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, said he believed Amazon would want up to 30 such outlets in the first phase of its expansion in the UK. The group already has more than 20 similar contactless grocery stores in the US under the name Amazon Go.

Black said the new store could be a "seminal moment in the history of the UK grocery market" and indicated Amazon's ambitions in the sector.

"The patient and rather delicate expansion that the group has taken to date in the UK, revolving around gradually building its online service, notably in collaboration with Morrisons, and its investment in the rapid delivery channel through Deliveroo, were never to us going to be the full extent of its ambitions," he said.

Amazon customers check in with a smartphone app upon entry and are automatically billed when they exit, without needing to scan individual items. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Amazon sells the vast majority of its goods online but owns the Whole Foods Market business, which has seven UK stores. It has previously opened popup shops for fashion and non-food items, and has operated online grocery delivery service Amazon Fresh for several years.

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