Amazon Fresh has set a date for the long-awaited launch of its second store in New Jersey.

Scheduled to open June 20 at 137 Route 35 in Eatontown, the 35,000-square-foot supermarket will offer a wide selection of quality groceries, as well as a customer experience that includes smart shopping carts, payment by palm technology and Alexa kiosks.

Shoppers should expect to find national brands, produce and protein, along with Amazon‘s private label brands, like Aplenty, Fresh Brand and 365 by Whole Foods Market – all at low prices, according to the company. The lineup also boasts more than 75 local brands, like Abe’s Muffins, Chloe’s Pops and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.

Additionally, Amazon Fresh will carry a range of prepared foods made fresh in-store daily, like grab & go sandwiches and salads, snack boxes and ready-made meals.

According to Amazon, customers can save up to 30% on 4,000 weekly rotating grocery items across the aisles both in-store and online. Prime members also have access to exclusive savings offering 10% off hundreds of additional products.

Grocery delivery and pickup services are available to shoppers, too.

Following the grand opening, Amazon Fresh in Eatontown will be open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Aside from providing the community with a new, affordable grocery store, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant says the location is creating dozens of local jobs. Amazon Fresh in Eatontown also says it will donate surplus food from the store to the Fulfill New Jersey, a Jersey Shore-based food bank.

Paused for new game plan

The launch will come nearly two years after the chain made its in-state debut at the Fashion Center in Paramus.

Shortly after the July 2022 opening, the company revealed plans to add stores in Lodi, Eatontown, Holmdel and Woodland Park. However, those locations were among the sites put on hold when the company announced in February 2023 it was taking time to rethink its brick-and-mortar strategy to be more appealing to shoppers.

Amazon soon returned with a new game plan, including a revamped store format, larger selection of groceries, more self-checkout stations and expanded online access.

Those tweaks also called for the removal of Amazon’s Just Walk Out cashierless checkout system from its 44 Amazon Fresh stores in the U.S. It was also taken out of Amazon subsidiary Whole Foods Market’s locations in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and Glover Park, Washington, D.C., which were the only two stores offering the technology.

You can still skip the checkout

Instead, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods now rely more heavily on Dash Carts, an innovation that tracks and tallies items as they are placed into carts. Customers are able to see their spending in real time, as well as skip the checkout line.

According to the company, the new store in Eatontown features the updated concept.

Additional details on any other future openings in New Jersey was not provided. However, Amazon said it remains “committed to grocery and will selectively open new Amazon Fresh stores as we see positive customer feedback on the new format.” It also said it will continue to add new Whole Foods Market locations.

“Amazon already has a large online grocery business and millions of products available for fast delivery, but if you want to serve as many grocery needs as we do, you have to offer customers great selection, value, and convenience—not just online, but in physical stores,” the company said.

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