Amazon will close all of its 87 pop-up locations in the U.S. in April, the company said Wednesday.
Amazon has pop-ups inside Whole Foods locations, Kohl’s stores and malls around the U.S. The shops let customers try Amazon products — such as Fire tablets, Kindle e-readers, Echo smart speakers — and Amazon services, like Prime Video, Audible and Kindle Unlimited.
“Across our Amazon network, we regularly evaluate our businesses to ensure we’re making thoughtful decisions around how we can best serve our customers,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC. “After much review, we came to the decision to discontinue our pop-up kiosk program, and are instead expanding Amazon Books and Amazon 4-star, where we provide a more comprehensive customer experience and broader selection.”
Amazon’s 4-star stores let customers browse and try some of the products that are sold on its website that have a customer rating of four stars or better. The company said it will open more 4-star locations and additional Amazon Books stores this year.
The company is also planning to open dozens of new grocery stores around the country, with the first expected in Los Angeles sometime this year, according to a separate Journal report last week.
The closures don’t affect cashierless Amazon Go stores. Amazon has considered opening as many as 3,000 Amazon Go locations by 2021, according to a report from Bloomberg in September 2018.
The move was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
