Amazon Fresh 'Still Committed To Opening In Brookfield': Town Official

BROOKFIELD, CT — Amazon Fresh remains committed to opening a store in Candlewood Plaza in Brookfield, town officials confirmed Friday.

Greg Dembowski, Brookfield's economic development specialist said he had a conference call with Amazon Fresh executives about a week and half ago, during which the retail giant reaffirmed its intentions to open at the old TJ Maxx location at 14 Candlewood Lake Road.

Exactly when the ribbon might be cut is still up in the air.

"What I can tell you is the town has worked with them very closely, and they have their certificate of occupancy. So the town is not holding them up in any way," Dembowski told Patch. "But the opening is contingent on their company's decision and readiness to move forward."

There's been a shift in the retail giant's economic outlook since the company opened its first Amazon Fresh store, a 35,000-square-foot operation in a strip mall in Woodland Hills, CA, in 2017.

In a Feb. 2 earnings call, Amazon announced it would "pause expansion of Fresh stores to examine the business and see if it resonates with customers," CNBC reported. The stock price lost almost half its value in 2022, closing out its slowest annual growth as a public company.

“We’re continuously refining our store formats to find the ones that will resonate with customers, will build our grocery brand, and will allow us to scale meaningfully over time,” Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky told reporters and shareholders on the call.

Prior to the company's reevaluation of its Fresh division, Amazon's rise in the grocery trade had been stellar. The retail leviathan acquired Whole Foods in June 2017.