Kansas City grocery store’s new technology skips checkout

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — How would you like to grocery shop without needing your wallet?

A grocery store in the Crossroads is re-opening with first of its kind technology new to Kansas City. Managers said it will bring a brand-new customer experience to the table.

Community Groceries is set to open Friday, near 18th and Holmes. The new tech is designed to make a trip to the store that can feel like a chore – more efficient.

This technology allows shoppers to skip the checkout and “Just Walk Out.”

“It streamlines the process of grocery shopping,” Director of Sales and Marketing Alyssa Groenig said. “It changes the customer experience.”

Here’s how it works — grab your credit or debit card – no cash – pop it in and out the machine, and the gates will open.

Anything a shopper takes off the shelf is automatically put in their virtual cart. Anything a shopper puts back on the shelf.

There is technology above to monitor movement.

“it basically creates a virtual blob of you and whoever is in your party,” Groenig said. “There’s no facial recognition software.”

When you’re done shopping, just leave. The card you inserted will be charged with the items you took.

“They can easily walk in the door, grab what they want, and walk out without having to really talk to anybody if they didn’t want to,” Groenig said.

If you think that’s efficient, shoppers can also take advantage of Amazon One technology.

You’ll be able to leave the purse or wallet at home and just use the palm of your hand to purchase items.

You can register in store by hovering your hand over the system. Groenig said it’s not at all connected to your Amazon Prime account.

“Once you do that, you scan your palm, you enter the door, and that’s all you need moving forward,” Groenig said.

Not everyone is sold on scanning their palms.

“I’m an old, suspicious guy,” neighbor Don Crownover said. “So the new technology, I’ll have to hear about it first before I do it.”

Crownover lives nearby. He’s happy a store that sells produce is growing.

“You know, this is pretty close,” Crownover said. “I’ll be able to bike over here when it gets warm.”

Some see shopping as a chore, this technology will help check it off the to-do list faster.

Groenig said this is the first grocery store in Kansas City to have both technologies.

“It is an exciting thing for us, it’s an exciting thing for Kansas City to be the first really
nationwide, Groenig said. “So yay us.”

Community Groceries, near 18th and Holmes, will open Friday.

They hope to launch more stores with this same technology in the future.

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