The Amazon Fresh store in Poway, which opened in November 2024 after a two-year delay, is closing on March 13, Amazon officials announced.
The company said Tuesday it is closing all of its Fresh and Go stores nationwide as it focuses on other areas.
“After a careful evaluation of the business and how we can best serve customers, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores, converting various locations into Whole Foods Market stores,” the company said in a blog post Tuesday.
The 44,500-square-foot store on Pomerado Road in the Twin Peaks shopping center is San Diego County’s only Amazon Fresh store. The store had been ready for occupancy since early 2022 when it opened on Nov. 4, 2024.
While the last day of operation for Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores is Feb. 1, the California stores will remain open longer to comply with state requirements, Amazon said.
“While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion,” the e-commerce and cloud computing giant reported. “Today, Amazon is one of the top three grocers in the United States, with over $150 billion in gross sales and more than 150 million customers shopping for groceries each year.”
Mike Leland, president of the Poway Chamber of Commerce, said he’s hoping the Poway Amazon Fresh will be converted to a Whole Foods Market after Fresh shutters.
Leland said the community has ample grocery stores in southern Poway with Aldi’s, Trader Joe’s and Stater Bros., but it is lacking in the northern region served by Alberton’s and Sprouts Farmers Market near Espola and Pomerado roads.
“It is my hope that the Poway Amazon Fresh would be one of the stores converted to a Whole Foods,” Leland said, noting that Amazon’s Fresh store and distribution center in Poway have not joined the Chamber. “We waited so long for the store to open and now they’re closed.”
On Thursday, shoppers Ed Sajadi and Kiran Manic shared their feelings about the closure.
Sajadi said it was his family’s go-to grocery store, because it was close to home, convenient and the staff were friendly.
Sajadi said he liked the store’s tech features but didn’t use them. The Fresh stores have “smart cart” technology that allows customers to scan items with barcodes and weigh produce in the basket.
“My wife made friends with the staff here,” he said of his partner, Shoora. “I was a frequent shopper.”
He said replacing the Amazon Fresh store with one of Amazon’s Whole Foods Market might be a good idea, but that store might be too pricey.
Julie Gallant
Poway’s Amazon Fresh store is expected to close on March 13. (Julie Gallant)
Manic said she likes the convenience of the Poway store, which is near her workplace close to Pomerado Hospital. She often stops by during her lunch breaks or after work for soups and quick prepared meals. Her retired husband, John, likes Amazon Fresh’s salad bar, she said.
“My family was excited about the store’s opening but now they’ll be sad about the news of it closing,” Manic said. “We do need a grocery store in this vicinity. Target is the only grocery store near here, but they just have the basics.”
Julie Gallant
Amazon is notifying customers that its Poway Amazon Fresh store is closing soon. (Julie Gallant)
An Amazon representative did not address whether the Poway Fresh would be converted to a Whole Foods Market. The company did say that Whole Foods Market plans to open more than 100 new stores over the next few years.
Since the company’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017, the natural and organic foods store has experienced a sales growth of over 40% and has expanded to more than 550 locations, Amazon reported.
“Customers are increasingly choosing Whole Foods Market for both everyday shopping and special occasions, as demonstrated by record-breaking customer traffic and year-over-year comparable store growth that is outpacing the broader industry,” Amazon reported in a news release.