Amazon converting Fresh supermarkets, Go stores to Whole Foods locations

Amazon said Tuesday it plans to sunset its Fresh and Go brick-and-mortar chains, marking a major pivot in the company’s grocery strategy.

“After a careful evaluation of the business and how we can best serve customers, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores, converting various locations into Whole Foods Market stores,” the company wrote in a blog post.

Amazon said the closures are part of an effort to prioritize investments, noting it still plans to roll out other brick-and-mortar concepts, including “a mass physical store format.” It will continue to operate its Fresh online grocery service, the company said.

For almost two decades, Amazon has been determined to become a bigger player in the grocery market. In 2017, the company spent $13.7 billion to acquire Whole Foods Market, the largest deal in its history.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.