Amazon opens in Roseville with a fresh new grocery shopping experience

People lined up as early as 9 p.m. the night before the opening of a new Amazon Fresh grocery store in Roseville. The Roseville location is the first Amazon Fresh store in Northern California. The line to enter the building wrapped around the entire store. The first 100 people in line were offered Amazon gift cards. There was also Roseville exclusive merch for opening day. The long line of people clapped in excitement and yelled out "yippie" as Assemblyman Joe Patterson and Roseville Mayor Bruce Houdesheldt introduced the ribbon cutting. Houdesheldt was thrilled to see Amazon Fresh come to Roseville. He said Amazon Fresh has enhanced Roseville and brought quality jobs to the region. "We have a skilled workforce that's ready to contribute," he said. Houdesheldt described how working in a grocery store is a coming-of-age concept that teaches people life skills by working in one. "I worked in a grocery store. My wife worked in a grocery store. My son works in a grocery store. Grocery stores teach such essential things, life skills," Houdesheldt said. "You're going to have folks here that are going to learn teamwork and inventory and all sorts of things that go with the stress of running a grocery store." Griffin Buch, an Amazon spokesperson who grew up in Roseville, said the company is proud to support the city. "We're proud to support the community by creating dozens of jobs in Placer County and by donating surplus food from the Amazon Fresh store to the Placer Food Bank," he shared. The grocery store plans to include a selection of national brands, produce and protein, as well as Amazon's brands Aplenty, Fresh Brand and 365 by Whole Foods Market. The goal is merge their online product with a brick-and-mortar location. Customers who are prime members have exclusive access to prime savings, which includes 10 percent off on hundreds of grocery items. The store uses unique technology to improve customers' shopping experience. Amazon has a special shopping cart called Amazon Dash Cart. It has a screen that helps customers navigate their shopping experience. Customers sign in to their Amazon account on the screen. They can start shopping from there. Customers have the option of scanning and weighing items as they go to track their budget. The screen shows a real-time receipt of all products in the cart. When the customer is ready to check out, they can skip the traditional checkout line and exit the store through the Amazon Dash Cart lane and their receipt is instantly emailed to them. The screen on the Amazon Dash Cart helps customers monitor their budget, get recommendations on items and deals, access to shopping lists and item locations within the store. Amazon also has a Just Walk Out option where customers can pick up a small collection of items and exit the store. The store at 6780 Stanford Ranch Road is 42,000 square feet and is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.