Amazon eyes British retail space for grocery stores
Online retail giant Amazon is eyeing up the acquisition of several sites in Britain to develop its checkout-free grocery business.
The Sunday Times yesterday quoted sources as saying Amazon wanted stores of between 4,000 sq ft and 5,000 sq ft to house Amazon Go, an arm of the business that uses technology to track the orders of customers so that they don’t have to queue to pay for their items.
Amazon, which recently raised the minimum wage for its workers in the UK and US, acquired seven grocery stores in Britain when it purchased Whole Foods Market for $13.7bn (£10.7bn) last year.
Amazon first revealed its ambitions to open grocery stores in December 2016. It currently has two stores open in Seattle.
Amazon is one of a number of online retailers that are piling the pressure on the high street, which recently witnessed the collapse of House of Fraser and its subsequent purchase by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct for £90m in August.
Amazon declined to comment.
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