Amazon confirmed in a Monday email that it has decided to close four Amazon Fresh stores in Southern California, but did not specify when these locations would cease operations. CNBC reported on Friday that the closures will occur in the coming weeks.
Once these stores in La Habra, La Verne, Mission Viejo and Whittier shut their doors, the state will be home to 22 Amazon Fresh locations.
Amazon said it will work with affected employees to help them find new roles within the company when possible.
Amazon also confirmed that, on the opposite coast, an Amazon Fresh store in Plainview, New York, closed on Sept. 28, less than a year after opening. This leaves the state with two Amazon Fresh stores, both of which are also on Long Island.
“[C]ertain locations will work better than others, and when this happens we assess and will decide in some circumstances to close a location,” Amazon spokesperson Griffin Buch said in a statement.
Newsday reported that the Plainview Amazon Fresh location, which opened on the same day as the company’s store in East Setauket, New York, was among the locations Amazon put on hold in February 2023.
Excluding these five stores, Amazon Fresh’s footprint consists of 57 locations across eight states as well as one warehouse in Tennessee. Earlier this year, Amazon confirmed plans to close a store in Thousand Oaks, California, as well as one in Manassas, Virginia. Last month, Amazon announced plans to close 14 Amazon Fresh stores in the U.K. and convert five into Whole Foods Market locations.
In March, Amazon Fresh opened a store in Silver Spring, Maryland, and this fall, the chain debuted in Philadelphia, according to local news reports.
In September 2024, Amazon Fresh had 52 stores across eight states.
While Amazon Fresh stores haven’t yet proven to be a consistent success, Amazon is still heavily investing in its grocery business. In August, the company announced that it’s bringing same-day perishable food delivery to 1,000 U.S. cities and towns with a goal of expanding the offering to over 2,300 locations by the end of this year.
Amazon also continues to further integrate employees of its Whole Foods chain into its central grocery operations.
