Amazon is planning to open drive-up grocery stores in Seattle

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Amazon is putting the finishing touches on a concept for new Seattle area grocery stores called AmazonFresh Pickup, according to permit filings reported by GeekWire.

E-commerce giant Amazon has filed permits for stores in the Seattle neighborhoods of Ballard and SoDo, according to GeekWire's images from the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections.

Amazon did not formally announce the stores to the technology blog, but CNBC is reaching out for comment.

Signs for the store exteriors read, "Shop online. Pick up here," and "Relax while we load your groceries," according depictions in the permits. GeekWire also visited the planned locations of the stores, where there are awnings for drive-up grocery pickup.

Based on previous permits, GeekWire posits that there will be about 15 employees at each location, and three to five workers will be dedicated to bringing orders out to parked cars with an average wait time of 5 minutes.

Amazon has recently experimented with several retail concepts, including a smart convenience store, Amazon Go. Amazon has also explored permits for drive-up grocery stores in the Bay Area, according to Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has said the company's tech savvy — especially artificial intelligence — allows the company to do things like sort fresh strawberries better than the human eye.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/14/amazonfresh-pickup-set-to-open-in-seattle-geekwire-reports.html

A new report reveals that construction work is almost done on Amazon’s upcoming drive-up grocery concept, AmazonFresh Pickup.

 

Two locations are in the works, both in Seattle, according to GeekWire, which based its report on city permits filings. Each store includes an awning for drivers to park under and a brick-and-mortar store where employees put orders together, the report said. 

  

Amazon has not commented on the project. But signs that appear to be motion-activated and that read “Your order is order on the way” are installed in front of the parking spaces at one of the locations, the report said.

In another hint that the stores are getting closer to opening, a film crew was working at the SoDo site Monday morning. They wouldn’t say what they were doing, but Amazon has in the past included promotional videos to introduce new concepts, such as the one released when the company announced the Amazon Go automated convenience store last year.

Permit records also point to what could be the web address for the online shopping portion of the experience: www.amazon.com/pickup. For now, the address redirects to a page that doesn’t load.

http://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazons-drive-up-grocery-store-concept-has-a-name-amazonfresh-pickup/