Amazon just opened up its first cashier-less supermarket

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Amazon’s first cashier-less supermarket just opened in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, five years after Amazon first started working on the location. Maybe it’s more of a mini-mart though, as it’s roughly a quarter the size of an average Whole Foods Market. Either way, it’s now live and ready for customers.

The upscaled version of the Amazon Go marts brings new products to the cashier-less concept, notably fresh produce, seafood, bakery, dairy and wine, and beer. You can expect to be ID’ed by a human if you try to walk out of the store with alcohol, though, so it’s not entirely cashier-less. Produce is all priced per-piece, removing the need to weigh anything.

It’s essentially the same tech from the smaller Amazon Go marts as well, with overhead cameras, computer vision tech, machine learning, and your smartphone being used to track your position in the store. Amazon made it all less intrusive this time, so your shopping trip feels more like a shopping trip and less like a trip to the Big Brother house.

Cameron Janes, vice president of Amazon’s physical retail division called Amazon Go Grocery a “neighborhood market” of sorts, except maybe without the neighborhood part, since the only reason people go to their small markets is to chat with the interesting owners.

Also missing? An in-store coffee bar, possibly crewed by robotic baristas. I mean, c’mon, it’s Seattle.

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Editors’ Recommendations:

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• By 2021, we could see up to 3,000 cashier-less Amazon Go stores nationwide

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.