Amazon Fresh has been planning a grocery store in Braintree. Are plans getting stale?
From the outside, the space in the Marketplace at Braintree between Nordstrom Rack and Ulta Beauty seems on the cusp of a new venture. Crisp black and bright green accents adorn the storefront of what’s set to be an Amazon Fresh grocery store. All that’s missing, it seems, is the sign.
But behind the glare of the windows is another story. Dirt still covers the concrete flooring of the 37,500-square-foot space, meaning not much has changed in the past year.
When asked if plans for the Marketplace at Braintree have changed, a spokesperson could not provide any updates on specific store openings.
“We’ll continue to open new Whole Foods Market stores, and will do so selectively with Amazon Fresh as we see results we like. We’re encouraged by early signs of our new store design in Chicago and Southern California, and will proceed adaptively,” said Amazon spokesperson Jessica Martin in an email to The Patriot Ledger.
The town of Braintree received a site plan and a trip generation assessment in April 2021, estimating that the new grocery store would result in about 45 new vehicle trips per day. Another document submitted to the town a year later showed what the store signs would look like.
One of those signs would tell customers that the Braintree store would be enabled with “Just Walk Out” technology. Customers enter a form of payment at the store entrance, shop as normal and get automatically charged when they exit without having to go through the checkout line.
Braintree issued a building permit for the site at 200 Grossman Drive on Sept. 3, 2021. The only work done so far was demolition of the interior space of the former Saks Off 5th and 5.11 Tactical and installation of the exterior storefront without the sign, said the town's director of municipal licenses and inspections.
The bulk of Fresh stores are located in Illinois and California, with others open in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
The company announced updates to two of its locations in Illinois in August, which included more brands and grab-and-go foods, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts shops and technology like Dash Carts that offer in-store deals and cashierless checkout.
CEO Andy Jassy said in a February earnings call that “the results thus far are very promising” in its revamped Fresh stores.
“If we continue to see that then the issue becomes how fast and what’s the best way to expand,” Jassy said in the Feb. 1 call.
Amazon appeared to be restarting efforts to build a new Fresh store in Maryland, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Amazon had plans to open their brick-and-mortar grocery store in four other Massachusetts. But in place of a planned Fresh store at 290 Turnpike Road in Westborough will go a Big Y supermarket, the MetroWest Daily News reported.
Hannah Morse covers growth and development for The Patriot Ledger. Contact her at hmorse@patriotledger.com.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Planned Amazon Fresh store in Braintree remains in limbo
