Amazon Fresh grocery store to open ‘very, very soon’ in Arlington Heights

Finally — after many trials and tribulations — the planned Amazon Fresh grocery store in Arlington Heights is set to open “very, very soon,” a company representative said Monday.

Village representatives said this could happen as early as the end of the month.

The proposed 50,000-square-foot brick-and-mortar supermarket at 325 E. Palatine Road has been on hold for the better part of two years as the e-commerce grocery giant reexamines its business model.

On Monday evening, representatives from a local store appeared before the village council to ask for Class B and Class T liquor licenses, which would allow for retail sales and in-store tastings, respectively.

The Arlington Heights store will join locations in Bloomingdale, Morton Grove, Naperville, Norridge, North Riverside, Oak Lawn, Schaumburg and Westmont.

Stores are known for using Amazon Dash Carts: high-tech shopping carts equipped with scanners and sensors that detect what items are placed inside. The system is synced with customers’ Amazon accounts and credit cards, allowing them to skip the checkout lines.

However, anyone purchasing alcohol will still be stopped and asked to show identification. The carts will have lights that flash blue if alcohol is detected, while the six self-checkout lanes will similarly flash orange, store manager Matt Feldman told the village board.

The store will also have traditional checkouts, and clerks there will also check the cards of customers buying alcohol, Feldman said. He added that everyone — no matter what they look like — will have their cards checked, per company policy.

The company’s first Illinois grocery store opened in late 2020 in Naperville. That was around the same time the Arlington Heights village board awarded nearly $1.4 million in tax increment financing to help fund site improvements and upgrades that would bring then-anonymous grocer and fast-food restaurant Raising Cane’s to the Town & Country Shopping Center.

Renovations to the store’s interior began in 2021, and Amazon Fresh building signage went up in June 2022. The signage was removed in spring 2023, even though Amazon has a lease with mall owner Visconsi Cos.

But Amazon’s expansion into the Chicago suburban grocery market is about to gain momentum.

In recent weeks, the Arlington Heights location has installed “Dealicious Groceries coming soon” signs and parking spaces for Amazon grocery pickup, and through the windows you could see that some shelves were already stocked and an employee was working at the front desk.

Deputy Village Manager Diana Mikula conducted a tour of the store last week, and in February the police department conducted background checks on five Amazon officials — both of which are standard procedure as part of the village’s liquor license verification process.

A part-time job posting has popped up online for another Amazon Fresh store that has also had its opening delayed — this time in Tinley Park.

About 50 of the estimated 100 employees who will work at the Arlington Heights store have already been hired, Feldman said.

Once opened, the store will be open daily from 8am to 10pm.