Amazon Fresh officially closed its doors in the Sunrise Village Shopping Center to its customers on Friday, March 13. Photo by Thomas J. Sullivan

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) – Amazon Fresh officially closed its doors in the Sunrise Village Shopping Center to its customers on Friday, March 13, although a small group of employees could still be seen working inside the grocery store.

The company opened its first Sacramento-area Fresh store in August 2024, filling a former Toys R Us space in Roseville. One month later, in September 2024, Amazon Fresh opened in Elk Grove, and then in November 2024, Amazon Fresh opened in Citrus Heights.

Looking in from outside the store, shelves, end caps and refrigerators were largely empty. An outside door through which customers could pick up or return Amazon merchandise was locked.

In a company blog post on Tuesday, Jan. 27, the tech and retail giant publicly announced plans to close all of 60 Amazon Fresh grocery stores in the United States, including its Citrus Heights location, "to prioritize investment in growth areas.”

Three Amazon Fresh supermarkets were located in Northern California. According to the company, Amazon closed all its Amazon Fresh stores nationwide while planning to convert some into Whole Foods Markets, the e-commerce giant reported.

The major online retailer took over Whole Foods in 2017. Whether or not the former Citrus Heights may be converted to a Whole Foods Market is not yet known.

Some former Amazon Fresh employees who preferred to remain anonymous, said they were actively looking for employment with Grocery Outlet, scheduled to open on April 2 in the same shopping center.