Amazon plans to open up to 3,000 cashierless stores by 2021

In a report released on Sept. 19, Bloomberg reported that e-commerce giant Amazon has planned to open 3,000 cashierless AmazonGo stores during the next few years. The news sent Walmart shares down by 0.6 percent, Kroger Co. by 3.1 percent and Target Corp. by 1.5 percent

Having 3,000 stores would make Amazon one of the biggest players in the country’s c-store space. While Amazon’s spokesperson refused to confirm the news, the report stated that the online retailer will have 10 AmazonGo locations by the end of 2018, 50 locations by 2019 and 3,000 locations by 2021.

Amazon already has three stores in its home city of Seattle, and recently opened a store in Chicago. The cost of AmazonGo stores are high with only the hardware of the original Seattle store estimated to cost in excess of $1 million.