Amazon to debut cashier-less store in downtown Seattle

SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon employees have been testing it, but is the public ready for a cashier-less store?

More than a year after it introduced the concept, Amazon today opened its artificial intelligence-powered Amazon Go store in downtown Seattle.

The store on the bottom floor of the company's Seattle headquarters allows shoppers to scan their smartphone with the Amazon Go app at a turnstile, pick out the items they want and leave.

By combining computer vision, machine learning algorithms and sensors, the online retail giant can tell what people have purchased and charges their Amazon account. If someone puts an item back, they aren't charged.

The store is not without employees – Amazon says there will be people there making food, stocking shelves and helping customers. The store will offer ready-to-eat breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks, as well as some grocery staples like bread, milk, cheese and chocolates. It'll also have Amazon Meal Kits.

At about 1,800 square feet, the Amazon Go store adds to the company's growing physical store presence and its expansion into groceries after its purchase last year of organic grocer Whole Foods and its 470 stores.