Amazon Go Debuts In Chicago

Amazon Go has launched another store, this time in the Windy City.

According to Venture Beat, the Chicago store is located at 113 S. Franklin Street, and offers standard convenience store fare that includes breakfast, lunch and dinner meal kits and hot food. The location will only be open on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

This is the fourth Go store and the first to open outside of Amazon’s hometown of Seattle. Just last week, the company announced plans to open an Amazon Go location in New York. There are also plans to expand to San Francisco.

The first Amazon Go opened earlier this year in Seattle, and two more locations have launched since then in the city.

At the first Seattle location, Amazon Go customers can choose from pre-made salads, sandwiches, snacks and meals, as wells as beer, wine and other beverages. Shelves are also stocked with produce, meat and Amazon meal kits. The second Seattle location doesn’t offer liquor or certain staples, such as bread and milk. And, while some prepared foods in Amazon Go’s original store were made on the premises, the selection in the second store is provided by an Amazon facility in Seattle.

To reach new customers, Amazon included high-tech conveniences like speedy checkout. And while Amazon Go doesn’t need cashiers, there are employees who perform such tasks as checking IDs for alcohol purchases and preparing food in the store’s kitchen.

To shop in the store, customers must first download the Amazon Go app on their mobile device and scan the app upon entering. Customers then proceed to shop, but don’t have to check out. Instead, the store uses cameras and sensors on shelves, as well as a computer vision system, to scan the items being purchased and automatically charge them to the shopper’s Amazon account.