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Henry Saker-Clark & William Walker & Sonia Sharma

Amazon opens first checkout-free grocery store in UK - take a look inside

Online retail giant Amazon has opened its first grocery store in the UK where customers can shop without the need to queue at a till.

These pictures show the first Amazon Fresh shop in Europe, which is launching as part of a wave of new stores on Thursday.

Shoppers at Amazon's futuristic "contactless" stores will be able to pick up items and walk out of the store without the need for a till.

Customers will scan a QR code on their way into the store, with cameras and technology identifying the items shoppers take from the shelves.

They will then be charged for the items via an Amazon app on their mobile phone, reports The Mirror.

The stores will be similar to the 20 Amazon Go stores the company runs in the US but will operate under the Fresh brand it uses for its UK online grocery operations.

Amazon said the store, which will be at the front of the Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre, will be the first of a number of planned openings in London.

The Amazon Fresh grocery store in Ealing, west London (PA)

Matt Birch, the former Sainsbury's executive who now leads Amazon Fresh Stores UK, said the company has strived to make grocery shopping "as convenient as possible."

He said: "The focus was just creating a really easy shopping experience for customers.

"We recognise that UK customers want to shop in a convenient way so we really think they will appreciate being able to walk in and walk out with the shopping they need."

The new store (PA)

The company said it has also launched a By Amazon range of hundreds of own-brand products for the stores.

The concept for the contactless stores was first launched in the US in 2018, and it was initially reported last year that the shopping giant was eyeing as many as 30 locations in the UK for bricks and mortar stores.

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