More Amazon Fresh issues surface in South Florida

Two Amazon Fresh stores in South Florida are starting to get stale.

A site in Boca Raton was originally earmarked as a future Amazon Fresh store, but last week it was announced the location will now be a Whole Foods. Meanwhile, in Sunrise, Amazon is facing a lawsuit for not upholding a lease linked to a separate Amazon Fresh store, according to court records. 

A  lawsuit filed by Flamingo Sunrise Investment states Amazon Retail LLC and Amazon.com breached the lease at the Sunrise location when it wanted to “terminate the lease without right” back on Jan. 31. Flamingo Sunrise Investment rejected the request and now wants more than $50,000 in damages, court records show.

Amazon Inc. guaranteed payment and performance of the 10-year lease, which also came with six five-year extensions, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Amazon’s quest to become a major player in the grocery sector continues to be marred in store closings and lease violations. Still, the delivery giant confirmed its commitment to grocery earlier in the year when CEO Andy Jassy said the plan was to “go big on…the physical side” of grocery. Amazon, however, has also paused the expansion of Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores, and some existing locations have even closed.

Related:Landlord, Amazon sue each other over delayed Amazon Fresh location

Last week, Amazon again tried to flex its grocery muscle when it announced special grocery deals for Prime Day.

Prime Day was the company’s largest in history, but how grocery, specifically, fared within those numbers is unclear. The opening day of Prime Day (July 11) saw $6.4 billion in sales, according to the company — which Amazon is claiming is its single largest sales day ever.

Some grocery figures have been released by consumer analytics firm Numerator. Those numbers show Temptations Cat Treats was the top-selling item during Prime Day based on the number of units purchased. On more general terms, household essentials (26%) was the No. 2 category purchased during the event. Home goods was the top-performing category at 28%.

Adobe Analytics data showed that on the second day of Prime Day, July 12, household goods purchases were up 27% compared to average daily sales in June 2023.