Following rumors last month that Amazon is planning an East Coast expansion of Amazon Fresh, the company has confirmed the move by announcing it isbringing the grocery delivery service to New York. The service will be available in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope starting today.
Orders placed before 10:00am will be delivered the same day, while those placed after that time will be delivered the next day. The service is only available to Amazon Prime members, who’ll not be charged any extra delivery fees for Amazon Fresh orders through the end of 2014. After this they’ll have to upgrade to the $299/year Prime Fresh program to continue using the delivery service.
In New York, Amazon Fresh will face direct competition from companies like FreshDirect, and a fast-growing startup called Instacart, with which Whole Foods recently partnered to expand its grocery delivery and pick-up options.
The Amazon Fresh service offers same-day or next-day delivery on more than 500,000 items, including groceries, electronics, toys, as well as household goods. The service is already available in Seattle, Southern California communities like Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego, as well as the Bay Area in Northern California.
According to Amazon, groceries for Brooklyn customers would come from a company warehouse in Avenel, New Jersey, which is around 20 miles from Park Slope. A company spokesperson declined to comment on when the service would be available in other parts of New York.
