Amazon Go applies for booze licence

Amazon Go – the ‘grab and go’ bricks and mortar grocery store being trialled by the online giant in Seattle – has applied for a licence to sell alcohol, it has emerged.

The company’s advanced tech store, which was unveiled in December, has dispensed with check-outs, cash and queues as part of its ‘just walk out shopping’ technology concept. Customers enter using an app and the advance tech in the store automatically tracks products on shelf, meaning the e-commerce-giant can charge customers’ Amazon accounts once they have left the store.

The store, which is currently being trialled by Amazon staff but is due to be opened to the public this year, already sells a selection of groceries ranging from pre-prepared food and snacks to grocery essentials – but not booze. However this is set to change after the company reportedly confirmed to US tech website Recode.net that it intended to sell beer and wine.

“When we start offering beer and wine, there will be an associate checking identification,” an Amazon spokesperson told the site in an email.

The news came to light after a reported spotted a flier in the store’s notifying local residents that it had applied for the liquor license.

In December the company trademarked ‘Amazon Go’ in the UK, and a month later the Sunday Times reported that the company was apparently looking for a site in the UK, although Amazon apparently did not comment on the story.