Amazon
Amazon Overhauls Grocery Business, Closes Fresh and Go Stores in Strategic Reset
Amazon is making one of its biggest strategic pivots yet in its long-running quest to dominate the U.S. grocery market. Reports suggest that Jason Buechel, senior vice president of Worldwide Grocery Stores, outlined a sweeping restructuring that includes the closure of Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores, job cuts, and a sharper focus on Whole Foods and online grocery delivery.
The announcement comes as John Farrell, Amazon’s chief merchant overseeing Fresh, revealed he is leaving the company to “explore new challenges,” marking another high-level change in Amazon’s evolving grocery leadership.
Why Amazon Is Closing Fresh and Go Stores
According to Jason Buechel, the decision to shutter Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh brick-and-mortar locations followed a “careful evaluation” of the business. While the company saw encouraging customer signals, it failed to create a “truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model” needed for large-scale expansion.
Amazon Plans Thousands More Corporate Job Cuts in Second Major Layoff Wave
As a result, Amazon is eliminating roles across its grocery organization. While the company did not disclose the number of affected employees, it confirmed that impacted staff will receive 90 days of pay and benefits, severance packages, and career transition support. The Amazon Fresh brand, however, will continue to operate online, focusing on fast, convenient grocery delivery.
The ‘One Grocery’ Strategy Takes Center Stage
The restructuring is part of Amazon’s broader “One Grocery” initiative, which aims to unify its fragmented grocery operations. Amazon is moving its online grocery fulfillment, return logistics, and Amazon Grocery Logistics (AGL) teams under Worldwide Operations, led by Udit Madan. This shift is designed to scale Amazon’s perishable supply chain across its vast fulfillment and delivery network.
Amazon began building its chilled logistics infrastructure as early as 2007, and that expertise is now being leveraged to expand same-day grocery delivery. In 2025, Amazon rolled out perishable same-day delivery to more than 2,300 cities and towns, where fresh groceries quickly became some of its top-selling items.
Amazon said it’s closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, as the online behemoth focuses on its grocery delivery, Whole Foods Market and a new “supersized” store concept. https://t.co/Kk5zEjiAHM
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 28, 2026
Whole Foods Expansion and New Store Formats
Despite store closures, Amazon is doubling down on physical retail through Whole Foods Market. The company plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods locations over the next few years, including smaller “Daily Shop” formats. It is also testing new concepts, such as a superstore outside Chicago and hybrid “store-within-a-store” models that blend Amazon Grocery with Whole Foods.
Amazon Grocery, the company’s unified private-label brand, now includes over 1,000 items and is expected to expand further in 2026.
A Massive Business With Long-Term Ambitions
CEO Andy Jassy recently told investors he remains “very bullish” on Amazon’s grocery business. The company claims it is already one of the top three grocers in the U.S., with more than $150 billion in gross sales and over 150 million grocery shoppers annually.
While the restructuring underscores the challenges Amazon faces in reinventing grocery retail, leadership insists the reset is necessary to build a more deliberate, scalable, and customer-focused strategy.
As Amazon pares back experiments and refocuses its investments, its message is clear: the grocery war is far from over—but the rules are changing.
