SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Loyal Amazon customers are disappointed that the online shopping giant is shuttering its physical stores in San Francisco.
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Amazon Go stores are unlike pretty much any other convenience store – customers swipe their bank card or smartphone to get in and items are charged automatically on the way out.
"Card only, they don't take cash," said Tristan Kalugdan, one of many shoppers here scratching their heads over Amazon's announcement that it is closing all four of its San Francisco locations.
"I wish they weren't closing this one," said Nick Edison, another loyal customer, at the location on California Street.
The final day to go to an Amazon Go will be April 1st.
But while the convenience of the stores made them popular, some disagreed.
When the stores first opened in 2018, Amazon was accused of discrimination because of not accepting cash.
Amazon is also closing store locations in New York and Seattle, but the company says Amazon Go isn't going anywhere and that new stores will open soon.
The company will work with affected Amazon Go employees to identify new roles within Amazon, such as at fulfillment centers.
Amazon's other local physical stores shuttered in 2022. Two bookstores in San Jose and Walnut Creek and three of the company's 4-star stores in Berkeley, Corte Madera, and Burlingame all have closed.
Just last week, the company put its giant Dogpatch warehouse up for lease in San Francisco, and earlier this year, it abandoned a 29-acre property in the Bay Area suburb of Milpitas. Amazon also laid off 263 employees across six of its Sunnyvale offices earlier this year.
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