WOODLAND HILLS—On April 12, Amazon announced that their company has opened “dark stores” to their lineup of services in Woodland Hills and Irvine, Calif. to meet the increased demands of grocery services from their other subsidiaries since the implementation of social distancing orders.
Originally meant to be the first warehouses for Amazon’s upcoming supermarket chain, separate from their Amazon Go and Whole Foods entities, the e-commerce company has established locations in those specific areas to service their customers’ needs for grocery deliveries. The stores are essentially meant to serve as delivery-only warehouses until they are fully allowed to open for walk-in services. Another store in Studio City is expected to open as well once operations return back to normal.
The latest innovations by Amazon come after they purchased the plots of land in October 2019. In addition, they also will also be opening locations across the nation in places such as Chicago and Philadelphia.
At the end of the first quarter for the 2020 fiscal year, Amazon announced that its net sales have increased by 26% to $75.5 billion in comparison to their Q1 results from last year. This has largely been in part due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. For the second quarter, Amazon estimates similar results in an 18%-28% increase from their 2019 Q2 earnings.
In correlation to meet their orders, Amazon has hired new people. In the months of March and April, the retail company announced that it hired 175,000 people to their fulfillment and distribution network.
