The new Amazon Go store in Seattle has one big figure: You don't actually take out your wallet to pay for anything.
Amazon Go is a 1,800-square-foot convenience store, built at the street-level entrance of the company's Day 1 high-rise headquarters. It uses deep-learning algorithms and computer-vision-enabled cameras to let people grab what they want and walk out.
The Amazon Go store has been open to Amazon employees for a year. It opens to the public Jan. 22.
The new Amazon Go store in Seattle uses what the company calls "Just Walk Out" technology.
The biggest feature of the Amazon Go is the fact there are no cashiers. When you arrive, you scan the Amazon Go app on your phone at a turnstile to register your presence and enter the store. After that, everything you pick up is automatically tracked by the store's cameras and charged to your Amazon account when you walk out. It all happens without having to check in with a store employee or physically make a payment.
When you log into the Amazon Go app with your Amazon account, you're shown a QR code that you scan on the turnstiles to enter the store. CNET's dummy device from Amazon was in the name "Mike."
You scan the QR code from the Amazon Go app to enter the store.
The Amazon Go store was filled with Amazon employees in the last days leading up to the public opening.
The first thing you see when you walk into the Amazon Go store are ready-to-eat meals. Pasta salads, lettuce salads, wraps and sandwiches line the tall shelves, making it easy for someone to dash in, grab food and run back out.
Amazon employees in bright orange shirts restock items, making sure the store never runs out of popular selections. Amazon has said it employs the same number of people at Amazon Go as you'd find at a comparably-sized convenience store. Instead of cashiers, Amazon has more people restocking shelves and preparing meals.
As you walk farther into the Amazon Go store, you see general baking supplies and other items to take home if you don't have time to go to a full grocery store.
Amazon sells its meal kits in the Amazon Go store. These come with all of the ingredients necessary to cook a meal for two people.
The only time you have to interact with an actual person in the Amazon Go store is if you want to buy alcohol. Amazon will have an employee in that section at all times to check your ID. After that, you're free to take anything from the section, just as you would from other parts of the store.
The Amazon Go app features different sections like "Discover" to show you what's in stock that day.
You can see a list of your purchases in the Amazon Go app.
You get receipts for your purchases in the Amazon Go app, showing exactly what you bought and how much it cost.
Amazon's Just Walk Out technology lets you shop without having to interact with a cashier.
Amazon sells Amazon-branded swag, including water bottles, at its new store.
Amazon Go in Seattle will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. PT from Monday to Friday.
Gianna Puerini, vice president of Amazon Go, says the company's "plan from the beginning was ... what can we do so you could walk into the place, take anything you want and leave."
The Amazon Go has been open for Amazon employees for the past year. During CNET's visit over lunchtime, the store was bustling with employees streaming in and out.
Amazon Go opens the door to the prospect that you may never have to wait at a cashier line again. The store may also help kill off self-checkout machines.
Amazon makes disputes easy. You swipe left on a charge listed on your receipt in the Amazon Go app to remove it.
To remove a charge from your account in the Amazon Go app, you have to explain why -- such as that the quality was not as expected or you didn't take the item.
The Amazon Go store is located on the corner of the company's Seattle headquarters.