By N.S.
“amazon fresh reportedly exiting twin cities stores as it reworks strategy”
“dive brief:
• “amazon is pulling out of at least half of a dozen planned amazon fresh twin cities locations, according to axios twin cities.
• “the news outlet reported that all six previously soon-to-open storefronts are currently marked available for sublease by mid-America real estate’s twin cities office.”
• “this development comes just a few months after amazon announced it has paused the rollout of the grocery chain, and a few weeks after reports noted the company has removed signage from several planned locations.”
What neither amazon, axios, nor grocery dive will state is the obvious: Jeff Bezos realized that he can't do a profitable business in an area infested with black criminals.
https://www.grocerydive.com/news/amazon-fresh-twin-cities-grocery-stores/649909/
3 comments:
I wonder if "pulling out" will be as much a failure in business as "pulling out" supposedly is as a method of birth control.Probably better,I'd say .
--GRA
Not long ago, someone posted a plot of Trader Joes locations in Los Angeles, and there were none in or near South Central LA, which qualifies as "an area infested with black criminals".
So I think most retailers know not to open stores in dangerous places, even food stores. That's why you sometimes hear the term "food desert". Not only do stores there close, new ones are not opened.
From the article:
"The former planned Amazon Fresh stores in the Twin Cities were to be located in Eagan, Eden Prairie, Arden Hills, Lakeville, Coon Rapids and Burnsville, according to Axios."
Eagan MN
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/eagancityminnesota
https://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US2717288-eagan-mn/
https://www.city-data.com/city/Eagan-Minnesota.html#
Eagen is 72% white, 10% black (less than the US average), a median home sells for $350k, and crime rates are significantly lower than both Minnesota and US averages.
So it does not seem to be "an area infested with black criminals", and there is reason to doubt the Amazon Fresh location planned for Eagen MN will not open for that reason.
Eden Prairie MN
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/edenprairiecityminnesota
https://www.city-data.com/city/Eden-Prairie-Minnesota.html
Eden Prairie has very similar demographics, but even fewer Blacks (6.6%). Crime rates are also much lower than state averages and significantly lower than US averages.
Arden Hills MN
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/ardenhillscityminnesota/PST045221
https://www.city-data.com/city/Arden-Hills-Minnesota.html
82% white, low crime rates.
I won't bother checking the other cities mentioned. They are very likely similar.
"Jeff Bezos realized"
I doubt Bezos is personally involved in deciding where and where not to open Amazon Fresh locations. He hires people to do that.
There are many reasons a retailer might change plans. I imagine what appears to be desirable areas like the locales above are already relatively saturated with food retailers, and while most people are willing to try something new, getting them to change their regular food shopping habits is probably a challenge. And you need regular customers.
Per Wikipedia, success in other locales has been mixed (locations have closed):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Fresh
Food and gas prices have gone up a lot in the recent past, so now is probably not the best time to try to entice customers away from where they usually shop.
However the city of Minneapolis itself does have a higher than average black population (18.4%), as well as higher than average (MN, US) crime rates:
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/minneapoliscityminnesota
https://www.city-data.com/city/Minneapolis-Minnesota.html
But like most large US cities, the black people and black crime are probably concentrated in a few areas. Other places that are easily accessible via transit and attract Blacks, like Mall of America, will also have the same problem to some degree.
The Amazon Fresh locations were in the same general suburban/metropolitan area, but planned for other municipalities.
In a large metropolitan area like Minneapolis - St Paul, it would not be difficult to find good locales to open Amazon Fresh stores, and I'm sure the management of Amazon Fresh is competent enough to avoid the heavily black, high crime areas.
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