Airport Shop To Add Amazon’s Just Walk Out Tech At Newark, LaGuardia

A Newark Airport store will start using Amazon’s Just Walk Out cashierless technology on March 16, just days after the company announced it was licensing the platform to retailers, according to reports on Wednesday (March 11).

CIBO Express Gourmet Market, owned by hospitality group OTG, is located at Newark Liberty International Airport Terminal C, with more locations to follow in Newark and at LaGuardia Airport. Shoppers will be able to buy food and drinks without interacting with a cashier.

“We’ve found that shoppers truly appreciate checkout-free retail experiences, so we’re thrilled to be working with an innovative company like OTG to bring our proven Just Walk Out technology to their airport stores,” said Dilip Kumar, vice president, physical retail and technology at Amazon.

“Starting next week, travelers in the busy Newark Liberty Terminal C will no longer have to assess store lines to determine if they can quickly grab that snack, bottle of water, or travel essential they need before their flight — OTG’s CIBO Express Gourmet Markets featuring Just Walk Out technology will let them quickly grab what they need and get on their way without standing in line to check out. We can’t wait to hear how travelers like the experience,” Kumar added.

OTG operates 350 restaurants and shops in 10 airports, including in Minneapolis, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Toronto.

Amazon has signed several other deals with retailers interested in bringing the Just Walk Out technology to their stores, according to CNBC, but the eCommerce giant declined to say which stores.

“We’re incredibly proud to be integrating Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology into the OTG airport experience,” said Rick Blatstein, CEO of OTG. “OTG has always embraced technology as a means of optimizing the airport experience so that we can give our guests their time back. By using the world’s most advanced shopping technology in our CIBO Express Gourmet Markets, we’re doing just that by putting our guests in full control of their time.”

Since the first Amazon Go retail location opened in early 2018 with its much-hyped walk in, walk out retail technology designed to make the line at checkout a thing of the past, Amazon has been slowly but surely expanding the technology’s footprint. There are now 26 Go stores in operation in the U.S.  with new openings scheduled for New York, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco on the agenda for his year.