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Comment by __derek__ | Hacker News Reader

How did it fail? They just announced that eight stores were permanently closed after having been closed indefinitely, one of which was inside of an Amazon office that shut down last year.[1] It looks like they still have 29 Go stores open nationwide.[2]

[1]: https://www.geekwire.com/2023/amazon-closing-eight-amazon-go...

[2]: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=16008589011

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If you have a US-wide convenience store chain with a multi-billion-dollar company behind it, and you have 29 stores after six years, well... I mean, it's not exactly a stand-out success, is it?

I assumed that every one of those stores were experiments or at least test jigs, and closing or opening them means nothing to anyone outside Amazon.

NYC is a tough market because there is so much competition. But if you're not trying to make money yet you can learn a lot. Perhaps they learnt that New Yorkers don't have the patience to install an app. You generally don't wait that long in a bodega -- I expect to wait longer inside a gas station on the Interstate!

well, Amazon Go isn't the only cashierless brand in Amazon's portfolio. It was the experimental small store. They're moving towards deploying the technology in Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh stores.

This reminds me that the San Francisco ones, if I remember correctly, are in a part of town that's been famously devoid of foot traffic since the pandemic.

San Francisco might be receptive to the concept, but it would have to be close to where people live, rather than where office workers used to go.

The only one I know in SF was down in the FiDi, and I can’t imagine that area had much traffic during the pandemic, and I question how much it has now.

That's precisely what i was saying.

I'm also seeing this tech in some airports in basically a linear contained store. Walk in, walk down the tunnel grab what you want, walk out. Seemed very efficient and airport appropriate

Sports venues, too. They have the Amazon version installed at Climate Pledge Arena and a few baseball stadiums, but I've seen something similar at a walk-up beer fridge during a Nets game at the Barclays Center.

Just because they're blowing money on it doesn't mean it's a successful concept

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