Amazon shares lower premarket: Several US stores without cash registers are closed

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Eight stores in San Francisco, New York and Seattle are scheduled to close on April 1. However, the world’s largest online retailer emphasized that they are sticking to the concept and will continue to operate more than 20 stores. At the same time, Amazon wants to be guided by which locations and functions are particularly popular with customers, a spokeswoman for the Bloomberg news agency said on Friday.

The website Geekwire previously reported that the group would close four of its “Amazon Go” stores in San Francisco and two each in New York and Seattle. In each of the cities there remain several shops of this type.

Cameras and other sensors in the stores register which goods customers take from the shelves. When they leave the store, the purchase is automatically settled. The rather smaller shops in the inner cities suffered from the consequences of the corona pandemic because many employees worked from home instead of in the office.

The first store under the Amazon Go brand opened in 2018 at the company’s headquarters in Seattle. Amazon is now offering the technology to other retailers as well. In the grocery chain Whole Foods, which was bought for almost 14 billion dollars, the group is sticking to cash registers. Amazon already closed its bookstores and pop-up locations last year.

Amazon shares temporarily lost 0.22 percent to $ 94.69 on the NASDAQ before the market.

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