Amazon to shut 8 Go stores to cut costs

SAN FRANCISCO: As part of its cost-cutting effort, Amazon plans to shut eight of its Go convenience stores in the US.

According to CNBC, the tech giant will close two Go stores in New York City, two locations in Seattle, and four stores in San Francisco on April 1.

In addition, the company said it will work to help affected employees secure other roles at the company.

"Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimisation decisions along the way," Amazon spokesperson Jessica Martin, was quoted as saying.

"In this case, we've decided to close a small number of Amazon Go stores in Seattle, New York City, and San Francisco. We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the US, and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we keep evolving our Amazon Go stores," she added.

Moreover, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that the company is also temporarily pausing expansion of the Fresh grocery chain until it can find a format that resonates with customers and "where we like the economics", the report mentioned.

In 2018, the first Amazon Go store opened to the public at the company's headquarters in Seattle.