Amazon Seeks to Repurpose Retail Real Estate for Sub-Same Day Delivery Stations

Amazon's plan to add around 1,000 sub-same day delivery (SSD) stations is ambitious. To achieve this goal, Amazon may need to repurpose some of its existing retail real estate.

The company operates less than 100 SSD delivery stations currently but wants to have over 1,000 by 2031. These specialized warehouses stock and distribute high-demand items for fast delivery to customers within hours or even minutes.

Amazon expects SSD delivery stations to handle around 28% of its company-fulfilled volume by 2029 and roughly half of all transactions by 2035. To prepare for this, Amazon wants to have an SSD delivery station located within 10 miles of around 80% of its Prime members.

Amazon may consider repurposing space within existing retail properties, such as the 540 Whole Foods Market stores in the US. These sites are close to customers and could be used as small SSD delivery stations and micro-fulfillment centers (MFCs).

The company is already testing an MFC in an existing Whole Food market store. Amazon repurposed a 10,000 square foot space within a Whole Foods Market store in Plymouth Meeting, PA as an automated MFC that stocks and fulfills high-volume grocery items.

Amazon also has the option to utilize parts of its existing retail properties as SSD delivery stations or convert vacant Amazon Fresh Big Box grocery stores into dark stores for rapid fulfillment of high volume grocery and essential products.