The news: Amazon shuttered three of its Amazon Go convenience stores in New York, leaving it with just two locations in the city and only 17 locations nationwide, per The Information.
“While the stores were performing well, we couldn’t make the economics work with the lease cost, so we’ve decided not to renew and have closed these locations,” a company spokesperson told the publication.
Why it matters: Amazon Go offered the clearest example of how the company’s then-cutting-edge Just Walk Out technology could transform the in-store experience. But the concept’s shrinking footprint suggests the retailer may have overestimated consumers’ appetite for contactless shopping.
