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Startup Nourish + Bloom Market eyes as many as 500 autonomous stores

Frictionless retailer gets under way with high-tech grocery concept

Russell Redman

February 1, 2022

4 Min Read
Nourish+Bloom Market-storefront.JPG
The 1,500-square-foot autonomous grocery store Nourish + Bloom Market, opened in Fayetteville, Ga., last month, offers a 'walk in, walk out' shopping experience.Nourish + Bloom Market

Startup Nourish Bloom Market and systems integrator UST have formed a partnership that they said has the potential to open more than 500 autonomous grocery stores.

The African American-owned retailer opened its first store, sized at 1,500 square feet, on Jan. 21 in Fayetteville, Ga. Located at 300 Trilith Pkwy., the high-tech outlet offers “walk in, walk out” functionality, enabling shoppers to take what they want from the shelves and skip the checkout line, with their purchases tallied and payment processed automatically.

Operating 24/7, Nourish Bloom stocks over 1,500 SKUs, including produce, meat, baked goods, dairy, center-store groceries, household items and prepared meals. The store is anchored by a section called Bistro, which offers freshly made breakfast, lunch and dinner items such as sandwiches, salads and healthy rice bowls. Nourish Bloom noted that it favors local brands to help reduce its carbon footprint.

Jilea Hemmings, founder and CEO of Nourish Bloom Market, launched the store with her husband Jamie. “The idea of the store occurred to us during the pandemic. We wanted to provide a solution for customers where they wouldn’t have to wait in line or touch anything while checking out,” she explained. “With UST’s help, we have successfully created a hybrid autonomous technology to offer that solution and combat food insecurities in underserved communities. We are confident that this technology will change how customers shop in the next three to five years.”

Related:Ahold Delhaize USA opens checkout-free food store in Giant e-commerce hub

Nourish Bloom is powered by an end-to-end Autonomous Store in Box solution from Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based UST, including retail back-office software, the Bistro module, and full integration services for diverse systems to provide a frictionless shopping experience. Shoppers enter by scanning a QR code from a UST-built mobile app at a turnstile. Items selected are tracked via LiDAR (light detection and ranging) cameras and automatically added to a virtual shopping cart, with the information is sent to a back-end software developed by UST.

Nourish Bloom Market-delivery robot.JPG logo in a gray background | Nourish Bloom Market-delivery robot.JPGRobotic vehicles named 'Nourish' and 'Bloom' provide last-mile delivery of online grocery orders. (Photo courtesy of Nourish Bloom Market)

UST Vision Checkout is used for large merchandise assortment outside the autonomous store. The self-checkout point-of-sale system employs computer vision to identify products, while voice and gesture artificial intelligence technologies speed checkout for Nourish Bloom customers, UST said. The POS solution also uses barcode-scanning and touchscreen functionality for specific merchandise sections like age-restricted products, frozen foods, and fruit and vegetables, as well as the Bistro prepared foods section. The UST Product Box tool provides quick onboarding of SKUs requiring computer vision training, and the UST Cold Truth solution brings IoT-based, real-time food temperature measurement at shelf level to foster more efficient operations.

Related:Frictionless retail can help Ahold Delhaize USA go where it hasn’t gone before

The automated product recognition in Nourish & Bloom Market store is performed by SHEKEL Brainweigh’s Product Aware Technology (PAT), based on IoT load sensors, AI models and machine learning algorithms, UST said. Hitachi Vantara provides the store’s 3D LiDAR technology, which enables monitoring of customers throughout the aisles and linking products to their shopping cart.

“The store uses UST Vision Checkout for large merchandise assortment outside the autonomous store. UST Vision Checkout is a self-checkout POS that uses computer vision to identify SKUs,” according to Subhodip Bandyopadhyay, general manager of emerging technology for UST. “Along with this, voice and gesture AI technology leads to a three time faster checkout experience for customers of Nourish Bloom. Hybrid autonomous store technology uses Intel’s Edge optimized technology infrastructure and uses multiple Microsoft technologies, including Azure Cloud.”

Nourish Bloom Market-founders Jamie and Jilea Hemmings.png logo in a gray background | Nourish Bloom Market-founders Jamie and Jilea Hemmings.png

The frictionless grocery store was launched by couple Jamie and Jilea Hemmings, who serves as CEO.

Nourish Bloom also offers online grocery service via a UST-built e-commerce app, including delivery, coffee and Bistro subscriptions. UST’s autonomous store system also is integrates with self-driven vehicles from DAX robotics for last-mile delivery. Delivery robots named “Nourish” and “Bloom” also deliver online orders in temperature-controlled compartments right to customers’ doorsteps.

“UST Frictionless Solutions’ hybrid autonomous store will help N B scale faster, cheaper and better and provide significant ROI necessary for further expansion,” commented Keith Pickens, general manager and retail domain leader at UST. “We are proud to partner with N B in its endeavor to become the most-loved emerging retailer in North America.”

UST also has worked with Ahold Delhaize USA’s Retail Business Solutions (RBS) subsidiary to develop a frictionless store concept dubbed Lunchbox. RBS opened a checkout-free, employee-only grocery outlet — sized at 450 square feet — inside the Giant Direct e-commerce fulfillment center (EFC) in Philadelphia. The concept also has been tested at the RBS office in Quincy, Mass.; RBS headquarters in Salisbury, N.C.; and The Giant Company’s perishables distribution center in Carlisle, Pa.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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