Amazon is closing eight of its Go stores as it scales back its physical retail presence in the wake of the pandemic.

Two Amazon Go stores in New York City, four in San Francisco, and two in Seattle will close by the end of the month.

Although never reaching our shores, the Amazon Go store format took the self-service checkout to its next logical step, with customers simply able to take items and leave the store with them.

Of course, sensors and cameras track each item the customer leaves with, and charges their Amazon accounts.

“Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimisation decisions along the way,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

“We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the U.S., and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we keep evolving our Amazon Go stores.”

Amazon announced last year it would be closing 68 brick-and-mortar stores.