World’s First Amazon Fresh Store Opening in LA
Owner Paragon Commercial Group completed the redevelopment for the supermarket in Woodland Hills’ Warner Center district in the San Fernando Valley
By Greg Cornfield September 10, 2020 3:00 pm
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Updated: E-commerce titan Amazon (AMZN) is expanding its grocery store network and set to debut the world’s first Amazon Fresh supermarket to the general public in Los Angeles.
Owner Paragon Commercial Group redeveloped the property at 6245 Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Woodland Hills, in the Warner Center business district for the new store. It’s at the corner of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Erwin Street, directly across from The Village, a Westfield lifestyle center. Paragon acquired the property in 2013 in a $46.95 million deal, property records show.
“This area of the San Fernando Valley has been in need of a convenient grocery-anchored center for its growing residential community and we are proud to have worked with the City of Los Angeles and Amazon to successfully deliver what the community needed,” Erwin Bucy, a principal of Paragon, said in a statement.
The 35,000-square-foot store hosted a type of “soft opening” on an invite-only basis with local customers in late August, according to media reports. It’s set to open to all shoppers in the coming weeks, the company announced. Alyse Bernal, a spokesperson for Amazon, told Commercial Observer that more Amazon Fresh stores are planned for North Hollywood and Northridge in L.A., and in Irvine in Orange County, as well as Oak Lawn, Ill.; Schaumburg, Ill.; and Naperville, Ill.
Amazon Fresh features wider options than the Amazon Go locations, and shopping carts that utilize QR codes via the Amazon app. When customers leave the store, they’re charged for the items via the mobile app.
Amazon owns Whole Foods, but the new Fresh stores are not supposed to compete directly with those outlets, which only sell organic products. Amazon will include conventionally produced goods and other prepared meals.
The property was originally built in 1970, and formerly a Toys “R” Us anchored location, and a portion of the 6.3-acre property was redeveloped into multi-family apartments that are set to be complete in October.
The Warner Center area is transforming into the “downtown of the San Fernando Valley” amid a 20-year plan to create a “live-work-play” community, and the area has seen a surge in residential and office developments.
Bucy said El Segundo-based Paragon is actively looking to acquire more retail sites for similar redevelopment. The firm has redeveloped centers around L.A., Burbank, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne and throughout Southern California.
Update: This story has been updated to reflect that the company announced the store would open in “the coming weeks,” not this month.
