Vending History & Industry

In January 2026, Amazon announced it would close nearly all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores (WCAX). At the same time, smart coolers kept growing. Why did one kind of cashier-free shopping struggle while the other took off? Amazon Go: big stores, big costs Amazon Go opened to the public in Seattle in 2018 and grew to about 40 stores (source). Each one needed a full retail space, rent, ceiling cameras, sensors and staff. Reports in 2024 said its "Just Walk Out" system

The smart cooler in your lobby has a 2,000-year family tree, and a surprising amount of it happened right across the Hudson. Here is how vending went from holy water to AI. 1st century: a coin for holy water Hero of Alexandria described a machine that dispensed a measure of holy water when a coin dropped onto a lever. It is the earliest known vending machine (source). 1883: London postcards Percival Everitt built the first modern coin-operated vending machine in London. It so