First Amazon Go Store Outside Seattle Opens in Chicago

Amazon opened its first Go Store outside Seattle this week in Chicago. It's the fourth of its kind—following the grand opening of the original location at 7th and Blanchard in Seattle earlier this year and two additional Seattle branches (at 5th and Marion and at 300 Boren Ave. N) over the past few weeks.

"This is our first [Amazon Go] store outside Seattle, and the only store in Chicago," Amazon Go Vice President Gianna Puerini told the Chicago Tribune. "We're going to wait and see what we learn."

The Chicago store spans 2,000-square-feet on the ground floor of Amazon's Chicago headquarters—downtown at 113 S. Franklin St. The store stocks convenience store items including snacks, groceries, and pantry products as well as ready-made sandwiches and salads.

Similar to the original location, the new Chicago store will feature a cashier-less app-based checkout system. This means that whatever shoppers pick up and place in their bags will be charged, upon leaving the store, to a preferred payment method on file. The entrance and exit feature electronic gates, and customers enter by scanning their app on the way in.

Earlier this year, we sent intrepid reporter Naomi Tomky to scope out the Seattle debut.

"The big deal about the store, the feature that drew lines, inspired media (that's me) to come check it out, and the whole concept that everybody has an opinion on—the part where I walk out of the store without waiting in line, without visiting a cashier, without having to throttle one of those annoying self-checkout machines? It was anti-climactic," she says. "Without a register or counter, exiting was seamless. I didn't feel like shoplifting because there was nothing sneaky to do. I just sort of left."

The newest Amazon Go Store is located at 113 S. Franklin St. in Chicago. Reports earlier this year predict the opening of six total new Amazon Go Store locations in 2018, including Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.