Amazon Fresh to Open First Stores in Hometown

Amazon is now hiring for its first two Amazon Fresh grocery stores in Washington state. While Amazon’s PR firm declined to provide addresses for the new stores in King County, it did confirm with WGB that one store is coming to Bellevue’s Factoria neighborhood and the other to Seattle’s Central District. However, local news outlets have been reporting the specific locations of the two new stores for months.

In November, Bellevue.com posted photos of the exterior of the soon-to-open Amazon Fresh located at the Marketplace shopping center in Factoria. It has reportedly moved into a space vacated by Safeway on Nov. 10. The shopping area is already home to Walmart and Target.

In Seattle, the new Amazon Fresh will open at 23rd and Jackson, according to the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. Seattle-based PCC Markets opened a Central District store at 23rd and Union in June 2020. It is approximately 1 mile from the new Amazon Fresh.

Amazon said it plans to fill hundreds of full- and part-time positions, including managerial roles, at stores in Seattle and Bellevue. New Amazon Fresh employees will join more than 80,000 full- and part-time Amazon employees already working in Washington.

“We are proud to be bringing hundreds of good jobs with benefits to the Seattle area as we prepare to open the first Amazon Fresh grocery stores in our home state of Washington,” said Roetta Greene Elton, district manager of Amazon Fresh grocery stores, in a statement. “We’re excited to provide customers with new, low-priced grocery stores in their neighborhoods and look forward to contributing positively to the community.”

Related:Tricked Out With Tech: Inside the New Amazon Fresh

Like its other locations, the Seattle-area Amazon Fresh stores will offer products from Whole Foods Markets as well as mainstream grocery items such as Coca-Cola and Kraft Mac and Cheese. And like its other stores, the new Amazon Fresh locations will feature a “seamless” shopping experience and “consistent low prices,” the company said.

“We’re proud to work with Amazon to bring its new Amazon Fresh grocery store to Bellevue,” said Bellevue Deputy Mayor Jared Nieuwenhuis, in a statement. “This store will create hundreds of new job opportunities and provide the community with an innovative and easily accessible option for buying groceries.”

"We look forward to working with Amazon to bring its new Amazon Fresh grocery store to Seattle,” said Michelle Merriweather, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, in a release. “This store will create hundreds of new job opportunities for people in the community and provide them with an easily accessible, low-cost option for groceries, which is especially important during these tough times.”

Since 2010, Amazon has invested more than $98 billion across Washington state, according to the company, which points to its 11 Whole Foods Market locations and five Amazon Go store locations already in the state, as well as compensation for its more than 80,000 employees.

 Amazon Fresh is also continuing its California expansion. Its website now lists its location at 15225 Whittier Blvd. in Whittier, Calif., as “coming soon.” The Whittier location will be the fifth Amazon Fresh in the Golden State. Check out Amazon’s brick-and-mortar growth here.