Amazon is closing some of its stores without cashiers

Eight of Amazon's 29 Amazon Go convenience stores, where customers can shop without going through a checkout process, are being permanently closed.

Customers and the company were supposed to benefit from the stores. The Amazon Go stores made it as easy as possible: clients can search for the things they need and afterward stroll past scanners that register their buys with next to no sort of checkout or scanning of things required. They also helped Amazon's bottom line by eliminating the need for staff positions.

In 2016, Amazon opened its first Go store in Seattle. Convenience stores in bustling downtowns of major cities were hailed as the future of retail. According to published reports that were never confirmed by the company, Amazon had an expectation that there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of stores across the nation. However, they never met those expectations.

However, the closings are yet another indication that the online shopping giant is working to cut costs. Amazon (AMZN) made the announcement last week that construction on its second headquarters in northern Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C., will be put on hold. It announced in January that it would eliminate 18,000 global workforces.

“Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimization decisions along the way. In this case, we’ve decided to close a small number of Amazon Go stores in Seattle, New York City, and San Francisco,” said Amazon in an emailed statement. “We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the U.S., and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we keep evolving our Amazon Go stores.” The company said it will continue to open Amazon Go stores, including one recently in Seattle and Tacoma suburb of Puyallup, Washington.

There are now five stores in Seattle, including two that had already been temporarily closed during the economic downturn. In addition, it is closing four in San Francisco and two in New York City. The first of April will see the six remaining store closures. There are two locations in New York that the Amazon Go brand shares with Starbucks, in addition to the 21 stores that will remain.

Along with its Amazon Go locations, Amazon has been testing its checkout-free technology in a few Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh locations.