Amazon may be building another grocery store in the Alexandria area.
Amazon is looking at taking most of the former Safeway grocery store in the Baileys Crossroads area, according to Washington Business Journal and Construction Journal.
Safeway at Crossroads Center closed in 2019.
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Fairfax County construction permits for 5821 Crossroads Center have been pulled for “façade renovation and white box,” which is essentially an interior demolition and preparation for construction of a new retail outlet without details about what new retail will open.
A construction bid request for that site estimates construction at $2.3 million, with the project starting in February, but it does not provide specific details about the site's long-term plans.
Adding to the secrecy: The permits were pulled by a company that specializes in pulling permits for businesses — JSquare Permit Services in Manassas.
However, Washington Business Journals says that the Construction Journal documents for that former Safeway have Amazon’s logo on them.
This is not the only Amazon grocery store opening in the region — a new Amazon Go grocery store in Franconia is under construction and is expected to open later this year.
Amazon’s new grocery stores will be tech-oriented, with no actual checkout lines. Amazon describes the shopping experience this way:
"Our checkout-free shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning. Just Walk Out Technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. When you’re done shopping, you can just leave the store. Later, we’ll send you a receipt and charge your Amazon account. No lines, no checkout. (No, seriously.)"
