Whole Foods Market’s new store in Washington, D.C., has earned the ire of some shoppers not happy with technology that requires them to scan a QR code to enter.
The supermarket opened the 21,500-square-foot store Glover Park location in February 2022 with a range of specialized features. The new store includes gates at multiple points during the shopping experience which require a QR code to pass through. They are located at the entrance, at either end of the checkout and at the exit.
According to Newsweek, The system replicates those seen at Amazon Fresh stores around the country (Whole Foods Market is a subsidiary of the online retail giant). Known as Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, it was one of two Whole Foods stores to open in 2022 to feature the system.
Is this the future of in-store shopping?
Whole Foods in Washington, DC, requires you to
1) scan in before entering
2) scan to enter checkout
3) scan to leave the checkout
4) scan to leave the store
🚨🚨🚨Too much? 🔊 pic.twitter.com/qecQIoyLOa
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) August 17, 2023
By scanning a code upon entrance at the gates, shoppers at the D.C. Whole Foods simply need to take what they want off a shelf and it is added to their virtual basket. Then they just pay the total at the checkout or via the app. It’s a feature that left some people unimpressed.
By scanning a code upon entrance at the gates, shoppers at the D.C. Whole Foods simply need to take what they want off a shelf and it is added to their virtual basket. Then they just pay the total at the checkout or via the app. It’s a feature that left some people unimpressed.
Others retweeted him, including raw food advocate David Wolfe, who wrote: “BOYCOTT WHOLE FOODS!!” “Very controversial new Whole Foods in Washington DC,” an X user named Dana posted, including the same video as Wall Street Silver. Political analyst Michael Ashura posted on X: “If we don’t boycott stores like this we’re sleepwalking into tech totalitarianism.”
