Amazon is opening its first Amazon Fresh supermarkets in New York and New Jersey. The company says it is hiring to fill "hundreds" of full- and part-time positions at the new stores. Both locations will feature the company’s Just Walk Out technology that enables customers to pay for their items without waiting at the checkout line, reports Supermarket News.
“I’m excited to welcome hundreds of new individuals to our Amazon Fresh team as we get the store ready for customers,” Charlie Chacón, store manager of the Amazon Fresh in Oceanside, said in a statement.
Amazon says that Amazon Fresh associates learn everything from customer service and stocking shelves to running checkouts and picking and packing online orders, reports Supermarket News.
“Our new Amazon Fresh store was designed from the ground up to offer the local community with a seamless grocery shopping experience and low prices on a wide assortment of national brands and high-quality produce, meat and seafood," said Chris Boje, store manager of the Amazon Fresh in Paramus.
Overall, 14 Amazon Fresh stores offer Just Walk Out shopping, and 16 offer the Amazon Dash Cart, a “smart” shopping cart that provides skip-the-checkout line capability and other shopper functions. Originated in Amazon Go convenience stores, Just Walk Out made its Amazon Fresh premiere last June at a Bellevue, Wash., store, reports Supermarket News.
Besides being the first Amazon Fresh in the Empire State, the Oceanside store — occupying the space of a former Waldbaum’s supermarket — marks the banner’s debut in the metro New York suburban market of Long Island. According to Newsday, two more Long Island Amazon Fresh stores are upcoming, in Plainview (a former Fairway Market store) and East Setauket (a former Waldbaum’s store).
“We’re thrilled that Amazon is opening its first Amazon Fresh store in New Jersey in Paramus,” Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera said in a statement. “Not only will this new store provide fresh, low-priced groceries for shoppers in the area, but Amazon is also creating hundreds of jobs with good pay and benefits locally.”