Schaumburg Amazon Fresh store to open Thursday
Schaumburg's long-anticipated Amazon Fresh grocery store will open on Thursday, Jan. 28, becoming only the second to begin operating in Illinois.
The approximately 45,000-square-foot store is located in the former Babies R Us space at 16-A E. Golf Road.
The store will featured free same-day delivery and pickup for Prime members, optional use of the Amazon Dash Cart that allows customers to skip the checkout line, and new Alexa features enabling shoppers to better manage their lists and navigate the aisles.
Amazon Fresh will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the first hour reserved for customers who are 60 years old and older, those with disabilities, and people defined by the CDC as being at higher risk during the pandemic.
Schaumburg Economic Development Director Matt Frank said the pandemic has stressed the importance of grocery stores to the overall economy. And the Amazon name — which was first reported by the Daily Herald last May — adds considerable weight to this project that was first proposed anonymously through a third party in the late summer of 2019, he said.
With 200 jobs created at the Schaumburg store itself, along with its impact to the company's supply chain, the new Amazon Fresh brings both direct and indirect benefits to the local economy, Frank said.
The first of the company's grocery stores in Illinois opened just last month in Naperville.
Among Amazon Fresh's commitments to local community support is the donation of surplus food to local food banks. Though not yet open, the Schaumburg store is already responsible for the donation of more than 40,000 pounds of food — the equivalent of more than 35,000 meals — according to company representatives.
Dedication to customer and employee safety during the pandemic is another characteristic of the stores, whose measures mirror those of Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh officials said.
These include requiring face coverings and daily temperature checks for all employees and vendors at the stores; a face covering mandate for all customers, which includes offering free, disposable masks to those who want one; and operating at 50% capacity.