Amazon Builds Grocery Store With No Checkout Lines

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Imagine walking into a small grocery store and quickly grabbing a bite to eat, a loaf of bread and a carton of milk — all without paying for it in a checkout line.

With Amazon Go, that dream has become a reality. The online retailer has opened a new brick-and-mortar store in Seattle that allows you to purchase groceries without waiting in a checkout line, swiping your debit card or paying a cashier.

Using what Amazon has referred to as “the world’s most advanced shopping technology” — it’s actually the same tech that’s used in self-driving cars — consumers can walk into the store with no more than a smartphone and the Amazon Go app.

After scanning your phone to enter the store, you select the items you want to buy and then leave the store with your purchases in hand without ever having to get your wallet out or wait in line. Amazon says:

Our Just Walk Out technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. When you’re done shopping, you can just leave the store. Shortly after, we’ll charge your Amazon account and send you a receipt.

Amazon is testing out a 1,800-square-foot Amazon Go store in Seattle. Although it’s only open to Amazon workers now, the e-commerce giant says the store will be open to the public in early 2017.

Amazon explains the Amazon Go concept in this video.

Although an Amazon Go store is smaller than the average supermarket, the mammoth retailer says it will have the basics, including bread and milk, plus locally made chocolates, artisan cheeses and meal kits, among other items.

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