Amazon forthcoming grocery store includes automated micro fulfillment center

More details have emerged regarding Amazon’s highly anticipated new grocery store opening in Woodland Hills, Calif., later this month. Last week, some photos from inside the location were made public, and now HNGRY's Matt Newberg has discovered the location's floorplans attached to alcohol permits with the City of Los Angeles. 

The floorplans show an automated micro fulfillment center along the perimeter of the store, with hours of operation from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Newberg and his HNGRY project have confirmed Amazon is working with Atlanta-based software company Dematic on the 7,200-square-foot robotic picking area, which will occupy 21% of the 33,574-square-foot store.

Dematic is already working with food industry redistributor Dot Foods on an automated warehouse in Mt. Sterling, Ill., and other grocers are embracing the microfulfillment model. Miami-based Hispanic grocer Sedano’s; Wakefern Food Corp. banner ShopRite, operating in the Northeast; Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons; and Ahold Delhaize USA banner Stop & Shop are just a few. 

This article first appeared in sister publication Progressive Grocer.