Amazon opened its first cashierless Amazon Go store in Seattle.
The store opened to the public on January 22, 2018, in the ground floor of Amazon’s Day 1 building near the company’s headquarters. Amazon Go used cameras, sensors, computer vision, and machine-learning software to track what shoppers removed from shelves. Customers entered by scanning the Amazon Go app, picked up items, and left without visiting a conventional checkout.
A common mix-up is the opening date. Amazon first tested the store with employees in December 2016, but that was a private trial rather than the public launch. Seattle is also sometimes confused with later Amazon Go expansion cities, including Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City.
The concept was designed primarily as a convenience store for prepared foods, snacks, drinks, and everyday groceries. Amazon later experimented with larger Amazon Go Grocery locations, but those were separate from the original Seattle launch and did not change which city hosted the first store.