Amazon Fresh closing 4 grocery stores in Southern California

Amazon plans to close four of its Amazon Fresh supermarkets in Southern California by mid-November as it reevaluates store performance.

After the closures, the company will operate 19 Fresh stores in the region, accounting for nearly a third of the 62 stores in a nine-state footprint. California has the most locations, with 26 stores.

“Certain locations work better than others, and after an assessment, we’ve decided to close the Amazon Fresh stores in La Habra, La Verne, Mission Viejo and Whittier,” said Amazon spokesman Griffin Buch, on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025.  “We’re working closely with affected employees to help them find new roles within Amazon.”

Buch declined to say how many people were laid off.

The stores closing on Nov. 16 include Fresh stores located at:

—26940 Crown Valley Parkway, Mission Viejo

—15225 Whittier Blvd., Whittier

—2229 Foothill Blvd., La Verne

—1610 W. Imperial Highway, La Habra

Even with the contraction, Amazon Fresh has opened six new stores in California since October 2024, creating more than 600 jobs. Across Southern California alone, Amazon also opened four operations sites in the last year.

Shopper Silvia Garcia, who commutes 32 miles to her job in La Verne from the Eastvale area, makes her first stop at the Amazon Fresh store in La Verne on a daily basis.

On Friday, Garcia picked up a salad for $2.97  — more than half the price of what the nearby Stater Bros. Markets charges — a spray can of hair mousse and other small items.

“I’m so sad and disappointed,” she said of the November closure. “Where am I going to pick up my groceries for lunch? It’s super close to where I work.”

Jessica Montes, a La Verne resident, also was stunned by the closing as she rushed in to return an Amazon online delivery of birthday party merchandise before heading off to her work.

“Oh, no!” she exclaimed. “I’m shocked but not surprised since there are never a lot of people who come here. It’s Amazon, which is more of a distributor. It’s not a grocery store.”

Rethinking groceries in the UK

Outside the United States, the online retail giant is retrenching its grocery strategy.

Just a few weeks ago, Amazon announced plans in a blog post to close 14 stores under the Fresh brand and convert five to the Whole Foods Market brand in the United Kingdom. It said in the post that U.K. customers are increasingly shopping for groceries and household essentials online.

More than 250 people were laid off in the U.K., according to the company.

Conversions to Whole Foods

Amazon has been known to convert some Fresh stores to Whole Foods, the upscale supermarket chain Amazon bought for $13.7 billion in 2017.

A post on Instagram on Sept. 9 said an Amazon Fresh closed over five months ago in the Westlake Promenade in Thousand Oaks, and would be replaced with a Whole Foods. That creates a second Whole Foods for the city.

Amazon debuted the Fresh store concept nearby in Woodland Hills in 2020, hoping to push its way into a new segment of the U.S. grocery industry with its launch. The Fresh stores offer cheaper prices and more mass-market items compared with Whole Foods.

Many of the Fresh stores feature Amazon’s cashierless “Just Walk Out” technology — a checkout-free system created by Amazon, using cameras, weight sensors and artificial intelligence to track what a shopper takes and automatically charges their payment method when they leave the store.

The Fresh store closings come a few days after Amazon announced the launch of a new private label grocery brand that ties its Amazon Fresh groceries and Happy Belly products under the brand Amazon Grocery.

The brand is aimed at “price-conscious” shoppers with most products under $5 ranging from dairy, fresh produce, meat and seafood to snacks and baking essentials, the company said.