Amazon Fresh to Open First Chicago Area Store

Aldi, Jewel-Osco, Meijer—fasten your seatbelts, the new Amazon Fresh store in Naperville, Ill., will open to the public on Dec. 10. The 35,000-square-foot store at 3116 S. Route 59 will be the fifth Amazon Fresh store location to open its doors to the public, and the first in Illinois. Amazon’s four previous locations are all in Southern California (Woodland Hills, Irvine, North Hollywood and Northridge).

Billed as a “low-priced” grocery store, Amazon Fresh Naperville is set to offer highly competitive prices on items, including 15-cent bananas; 89-cent freshly baked bread; $1.79 freshly baked pizza slices; and $4.97 rotisserie chickens.

“As we open our doors, we’re offering deals on a variety of items across our aisles, such as $2.69 for a 12-pack of Coca-Cola; buy one, get one free Frito-Lay chips (7.75-9.75 ounces.); $1.49 a pound for organic Opal apples; $1.99 a pound bone-in Smithfield half hams; and $2.99 Southern Comfort vanilla eggnog (32 ounces),” said the company in a release.

Area competition includes Jewel-Osco at just 0.3 miles away, as well as Angelo Caputo’s Fresh Markets, Walmart, Meijer, Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market and Aldi all less than 5 miles from the new Amazon Fresh. Among these, hard-discounter Aldi—also known for its incredible prices on items such as a dozen Grade AA eggs for 79 cents and a 24-ounce package of tomatoes on the vine for $1.29—may be most sensitive to the fresh heat.  

The Naperville Amazon Fresh also features the same “seamless grocery shopping experience” of its California stores, with free same-day delivery and pickup for Prime members; the Amazon Dash Cart, which enables customers to skip the checkout line; and new Alexa features designed to help customers manage their shopping lists and better navigate store aisles.

And like its other locations, the Naperville Amazon Fresh will offer a wide assortment of national brands; produce, meat and seafood; a range of prepared foods made fresh in-store every day; along with 365 by Whole Foods Market organics products and local brands such as Turano Baking Co., Oberweis Dairy, and Revolution Brewing. The new store will also carry Amazon-exclusive brands such as Fresh and Cursive wines.

Amazon’s move into Naperville, will create hundreds of high-quality local jobs, with a starting wage of $15 and comprehensive benefits on day one, the company said. “We’re also supporting the Naperville community by donating surplus food from the Amazon Fresh store to local food banks. We have already donated over 165,000 pounds of food (equivalent to over 135,000 meals) since this location opened as an online-only store,” Amazon Fresh said.

The new store has said it will follow the same COVID safety protocols that are in place at Whole Foods, including requiring face coverings and daily temperature checks for all employees and vendors entering the store; requiring face coverings for all customers entering the store; offering free, disposable face masks for those who want one; and operating the store at 50% capacity.