Amazon Opens Grocery Pickup Sites In Seattle

SEATTLE, WA - Amazon opened two test grocery pickup sites in Seattle on Tuesday where shoppers will eventually able to go and grab personally-shopped grocery orders.

The AmazonFresh Pickup sites opened in the Ballard and Sodo neighborhoods, but aren't available to the public yet. So far, only Amazon employees will be able to test out the sites.

The pickup sites have been under construction for about a year. The SODO location is in the parking lot of the Starbucks headquarters along 1st Avenue; the Ballard site is along 15th Avenue Northwest at the site of a former Chinese food restaurant.

"Your trip to the grocery store just got quicker," a promotional video for the service declares.

Eventually, the pickup sites will be open to Amazon Prime members at no extra charge. Shoppers will be able to pick out groceries online, and then select a time to drive by and pick up the order. Amazon says that grocery orders can be ready in as little as 15 minutes.

The Seattle tech blog GeekWire first reported on the pickup sites when a strange building appeared last year at the Starbucks headquarters. Last summer, Amazon referred to the buildings in permit applications as "Project X." The pickup sites look like hip drive-thru restaurants, with angled parking lanes for cars manned by video screens; the groceries are delivered by workers dressed in green aprons.

Image via Elaine Thompson/Associated Press