Amazon Fresh Porter Ranch could soon be opening its doors to the public. The incoming grocery store’s space, at 19340 Rinaldi St., in the Porter Ranch Shopping Center, was recently adorned with signage as shown in the above picture, captured by local Deirdre Koenig Bolona. Amazon Fresh replaces Whole Foods Market (WFM) which has since relocated to the nearby The Vineyards at Porter Ranch development. What Now Los Angeles (WNLA) in late-2019 was the first and only publication to uncover that Amazon would replace the WFM with its new grocery store concept. At the time, the Amazon Fresh name had not yet been revealed, and details surrounding the new store were scarce.
It’s unclear when Amazon Fresh Porter Ranch will open its doors and reps for the company this week did not respond to WNLA’s request for comment. If its opening in Woodland Hills—the first-ever Amazon Fresh—in late-August is any indication of how the Porter Ranch store will open, it will start by invite-only to residents in the area that are also Amazon Prime members.
“Amazon Fresh is a new grocery store, designed from the ground up to offer a seamless grocery shopping experience, whether customers are shopping in-store or online,” the company explains in an FAQ section on the grocery store’s website. “We’ve taken our decades of operations experience to deliver consistently low prices for all and FREE, same-day delivery for Prime members.”
At Amazon Fresh, customers can expect what they’d find at any normal grocery store: national brands, produce, meat, seafood, and prepared foods. But Amazon Fresh is bound to stand out with its technology. For example, the Woodland Hills location is piloting the Amazon Dash Cart, which “enables customers to skip the checkout line, and new Alexa features to help customers manage their shopping lists and better navigate our aisles.” Also throughout the store will be Amazon Echo Show smart displays that utilize Amazon’s virtual helper, Alexa, to answer questions like, “Where can I find milk?”
At least three additional Amazon Fresh stores are in the works in SoCal with a soon-to-open outpost in North Hollywood, an under-construction Westchester anchor, and in La Verne in a portion of a Kohl’s department store. The new grocery store is separate from WFM which Amazon acquired in 2017.
