Customers line up for hours to get into new Woodland Park Amazon Fresh

Posted by Admin November 7, 2024 Shopping

Spread the love

WOODLAND PARK — Customers began lining up at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday hoping to be among the first to shop at the new Amazon Fresh store on Route 46.

The store officially opened at 8 a.m.

Second in the long line was Woodland Park resident Thais Mena, who was waiting with her mother and daughter having arrived in the early morning hours.

Curiosity, Mena said, is what drove her and lots of others to line up along the strip mall’s storefronts.

“This is crazy,” she said.

Amazon Fresh employees handed out reusable shopping bags and coffee to the waiting customers.

Woodland Park has been waiting for the store to open for more than two years.

The long line of customers took local officials by surprise. Customers were lined up on the sidewalk in front of the Plaza 46 strip mall from Amazon Fresh on one end to Kohl’s department store at the other.

Mayor Tracy Kallert said she “expected it to be busy all day,” but said she “didn’t expect this.”

Kallert said the borough has needed a grocery store, especially after Fairway closed a few years ago.

The new 59,000-square-foot store is the fourth Amazon Fresh in the state, with the latest brick-and-mortar design unveiled last year in Chicago and the southern part of California.

There are wide aisles and customers are greeted by a Krispy Kreme donut counter, which is just on the other side of the entrance.

Clifton resident Jon McHugh said the new store gives him more shopping options closer to home. He’s been shopping at the Amazon Fresh in Paramus as well as the new Stew Leonard’s in Clifton. He said he also frequents the area Shop Rite, which has an excellent meat department.

“We go to different stores for different things,” he said adding that he’s really appreciative of the options he has now so close to home.

Robert Serrano from Paterson, with his mother Ana and his girlfriend Kelly Amorim arrived at 6:20 p.m. to get in line to get into the new store. There were 40 people in front of them. The draw? Amazon was giving out gift cards to the first 100 customers.

He managed to get one of the limited number of Dash Carts which allows customers with Amazon accounts to pay as they go. Sensors in carts scan products and they are paid via customer’s Amazon accounts.

While Amazon associates were on hand to teach customers how to use the store’s technology, including the Smart Cart, Serrano said he didn’t need one since all of it is pretty intuitive.

“It comes up with instructions,” he said. “It took 30 seconds (to figure out).”

There are also check-out lanes for those using the available traditional shopping carts.

Amazon officials said the newest store is an amalgamation of what it has learned in recent years. About two years ago the company halted work on the Woodland Park site to recalibrate its operations.

The Dash Carts have stayed but the walk-out technology has been largely relegated to the Amazon Go stores.

What sets Amazon Fresh apart is its ability to merge the convenience of online grocery shopping with an elevated in-store experience, Amazon officials said.

Customers can take advantage of fast grocery delivery and pickup options, while also enjoying ways to make grocery shopping in-store more convenient, like the Amazon Dash Cart.

We’re excited for customers to see our wide selection of national brands, and high-quality produce,” said Hugo Ortiz, Regional Manager for Amazon Fresh.

Customers can expect to find a wide selection of national brands, high-quality produce and protein, as well as Amazon’s private-label brands such as Aplenty, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Saver and 365 by Whole Foods Marketplace.