Amazon Go, the store of the future, opens today

Amazon’s retailer store, a high-tech version of 7-Eleven, has been a five years in the making. But the unveiling is just about here. Amazon Go is a convenient store without any checkout lines and cashiers. Which means customers can get items and walk out of store without stopping to pay.

Amazon Go, the company’s first brick-and-mortar convenience store, opens to the public today on the ground floor of Amazon’s new headquarters on Seventh Avenue in Seattle. The unveiling was originally planned to take place a year ago, but it will still be met with great expectations because of the store’s unique technology that Amazon believes can make checkout lines a thing in the past.

At first, store looks like it resembles what a 7-Eleven might look like if it got a high-end makeover. It was laid out in part like a Pret a Manger sandwich shop, dreamt up by the same tech powerhouse that had previously made one-click buying and two-day shipping the industry norm.

Upon entering the store, shoppers are then greeted by a selection of salads, sandwiches and beverages, as well as ready-to-eat meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It also has a selection of beer and wine, as well as produce, meat and Amazon’s own meal kits. Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, they have managed to add section for chips, cookies and nuts, all from the grocer’s 365 Everyday Value brand.

But the store’s real reason for being is to test what could be a breakthrough Amazon hypothesis: that by adding even more convenience to the convenience store model — with the help of a healthy dose of technology — Amazon might be able to carve out a loyal customer base outside of its website and inside a physical store where the vast majority of food and grocery shopping still occurs.

In the end, Amazon Go is outfitted with a cocktail of modern technology that enables shoppers to simply grab items off of shelves and automatically get charged the right amount without stopping to pay upon exit. No lines, no waiting.