Amazon opens first Fresh grocery store in Los Angeles

Amazon announced on Thursday that it would open its first Fresh grocery store in Los Angeles, using the company's proprietary smart shopping carts.

The announcement, made on the company's blog, notes the store is in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of the city. Right now, shopping at the store is on an invite-only basis, but it will be "open to everyone in the coming weeks," the company said in the post.

"I’m excited to announce that starting this week, we’re opening our doors to a select group of invited customers in Woodland Hills, California, to shop the store before it opens widely to the public in the coming weeks," Jeff Helbling, vice president, Amazon Fresh Stores, said in the post.

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The Dash Carts allow users to bypass the checkout line, using cameras and sensors inside the cart. A shopper will first put bags into the cart, log in to their Amazon app with the Fresh QR code, put the items in the bags as they would normally shop and then automatically pay as they exit the store through the Dash Cart lane.

The Dash Cart is also compatible with Amazon's Alexa to help navigate aisles and their shopping list.

CNBC reports that Amazon Fresh is intended to be a cheaper alternative to Amazon's Whole Foods stores, which the company seemed to hint at in the blog post.

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"We’ve taken our decades of operations experience to deliver consistently low prices for all, and FREE same-day delivery for Prime members," Amazon added. "When customers visit the store, they can shop low prices across a range of national brands, quality produce, meat, and seafood."

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Additionally, customers with Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card or Amazon Prime Store Card will get 5% back.

Shares of Amazon were falling sharply Thursday afternoon, losing 1.5% to trade at $3,389.03.

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