Major retailer closes eight stores as a result of mass closures – check out affected locations

AMAZON has announced that eight of its Go convenience stores are the first to go into an upcoming round of closures.

The company is forecasting a tough first start into 2023 and taking cost-cutting steps.

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On Friday, Amazon executives announced that two Go locations in New York City, two in Seattle and four in San Francisco will be closing on April 1st.

They will work to ensure that those affected find comparable employment with the giant technology company.

“Like any physical retailer, we regularly evaluate our portfolio of stores and make optimization decisions as we go,” an Amazon spokesperson told GeekWire.

“We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the United States, and will continue to learn which locations and features are resonating best with customers as we continue to develop our Amazon Go stores.”

The announcement came just a day after Amazon’s chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, announced the upcoming closures at a shareholders’ meeting.

According to the chief financial officer, Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh’s businesses had “low growth potential” and needed improvement to compete with competing options.

Go locations are checkout-free convenience stores that are partially automated, while Fresh stores offer both in-person and delivery groceries.

“We continually refine our store formats to find those that resonate with customers, build our grocery brand and allow us to scale meaningfully over time,” Olsavsky said.

The tech company has had a difficult past year and is making some key changes to cope with falling demand as consumers return to brick-and-mortar stores.

In January, Amazon announced that it would lay off more than 18,000 employees.

To add insult to injury, employees were notified of their termination via email without prior notice or face-to-face meetings.

Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said in a memo to employees that Amazon “has a history of weathering uncertain and difficult economies, and we will continue to do so.”

“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

After sales skyrocketed during the pandemic when most stores were closed, there was a sharp downtown in e-commerce as stores opened and people started leaving their homes.

The Amazon closures are part of a larger trend with major retailers closing stores to cut costs.

Most notably, Bed Bath & Beyond announced it would close another 87 stores.

The embattled chain recently said it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

To make matters worse, they missed a $1.2 billion debt payment to bondholders.

See which grocery store is bucking the trend and expanding.

And seven changes are coming to Walmart this year.