Amazon to close its UK grocery stores

Amazon is planning to close its 19 UK grocery stores less than five years after it launched the till-free sites in London.

Amazon said five of the stores earmarked for closure would be converted in to Whole Foods stores, a fresh and whole food brand which Amazon owns.

The company added that it would focus on its online delivery services in the groceries sector, including with its partners Morrisons, Co-op, Iceland, and Gopuff.

Amazon said 250 staff worked at its stores and the company had launched a consultation process on its closure proposals.

The GMB union, which represents some of the employees, said: "Considering Amazon are one of the richest companies in the world, the cavalier way in which they treat staff, and hire and fire them, speaks volumes about their ethics.

"Frankly workers deserve better".

The online retail giant began its first closure of the sites in 2023 when it shut down three of its Amazon Fresh stores in London.

Amazon opened its first UK grocery store in Ealing Broadway in March 2021.

Shoppers would walk in to the shops, pick up what they want, walk out and their Amazon account would be billed for the items on their Amazon account, which were identified using technology including in-store cameras.

Amazon said it had "made the difficult decision" after a "thorough evaluation of business operations and the very substantial growth opportunities in online delivery."

Amazon UK manager John Boumphrey said the firm would "continue to invent and invest" in the UK.

The firm added that if its Whole Foods expansion plans go ahead, it would have 12 Whole Foods stores in the UK by the end of 2026.

The company has a history of starting and ending ventures at speed.

In 2024, it stopped its venture of robots that monitored business security after only nine months of operation.

Its various businesses, including parcel delivery and streaming services, have led to analysts describing it as an "omnipresent" company.