Amazon Fresh: How the supermarket of the future became the creepiest shop on the high street

There is a spectre from the west hanging over the British high street. It is luminous and empty, ubiquitous without being local, apparently financially viable despite being mildly disliked, a novelty that lost its appeal as soon as it opened. It is not the fleet of American candy stores that invaded Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street in a period of months, a “curse” that everyone hates so much they’ve even become a touchstone of the next general election. It’s so, so much worse than that. I’m talking about the ominous, liminal space that is Amazon Fresh.

First officially launched in Chicago and LA four years ago, Amazon Fresh became ’s pandemic-era foray into physical retail. . Here, shoppers would be watched by surveillance cameras, with the vague promise that “Just Walk Out” technology would know what they bought without their purchases being individually scanned. An early adopter of the cashless society that health food stores in Surrey hamlets now rail against, Amazon Fresh streamlined everything