The news: Whole Foods Market plans to open six of its smaller-format Daily Shop stores in the UK, doubling the grocer’s footprint in the country. All but one of the new locations are former Amazon Fresh stores.

The new stores range from 3,300 to 10,000 square feet and mark the first time the Daily Shop concept will operate outside the US.

Why it matters: The expansion suggests Amazon sees strong value in the Whole Foods brand and its sharp positioning within the health and wellness space.

• Amazon plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods locations in the coming years, including additional Daily Shop stores and potentially midsize formats that fall between the compact Daily Shop and traditional full-size Whole Foods stores.
• Amazon is also extending the Whole Foods brand by selling Whole Foods private-label products in Singapore, where it has no physical stores.

Implications for grocers and brands: Even after pulling the plug on Amazon Fresh, Amazon remains firmly committed to expanding its grocery business. Instead of retreating, it’s refining its strategy by leaning on Whole Foods’ premium brand equity while testing smaller footprints, hybrid concepts, and tighter omnichannel integration.

In Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, Amazon operates a Whole Foods store with a 10,000-square-foot automated micro-fulfillment center that enables in-store pickup of Amazon and Amazon Fresh orders. In Chicago, a two-level location combines a mass-market Amazon Grocery on the ground floor with a Whole Foods upstairs, to allow shoppers to access both national brands and premium assortments in one visit.

Amazon regularly emphasizes the scale of its grocery business, noting on its earnings call that it has become a “go-to grocery destination for over 150 million Americans,” generating more than $150 billion in gross sales last year.

For competitors, the takeaway is that Amazon’s grocery ambitions aren’t shrinking. The retailer is leaning into what works and pivoting away from what doesn’t. For brands, it is a signal to watch how Amazon weaves together premium positioning, private label expansion, and fulfillment innovation. The company is not simply opening stores. It is building a more flexible, integrated grocery ecosystem designed to capture share across both physical and digital channels.