For the first time, Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology is live in a Major League Baseball stadium. Two food and beverage stores, powered by Amazon’s checkout-free technology, have opened in Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros.
The Just Walk Out technology-enabled ‘19th Hole’ store is located on the Concourse level behind Section 156, and the Just Walk Out technology-enabled ‘Market’ store is located on the Honda Club level behind Section 211. Both stores offer a selection of snacks, soda, candy, and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. The Concourse level store also offers pre-packaged salads, wine bottles, and souvenirs.
Shopping at a location powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology is designed to be an effortless experience. Fans visiting the two Just Walk Out technology-enabled stores can insert their credit card at the entry gates to shop. Once they’re inside, anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart, and anything they put back on the shelf comes out of their virtual cart. When fans have completed their shopping experience, they will be able to just leave the store and the credit card they inserted will be charged for the items they took.
“The Astros are proud to collaborate with Amazon to bring their Just Walk Out Shopping experience to Minute Maid Park in 2022,” said Marcel Braithwaite, Senior Vice President, Business Operations for the Astros. “We wanted to provide this state-of-the-art technology to our fans, giving them a more streamlined and convenient shopping experience so they can spend more time enjoying baseball.”
Amazon’s Just Walk Out Shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.
“We’re excited to work with the Houston Astros to offer fans a fast and convenient way to shop for their gameday essentials using Just Walk Out technology at the 19th Hole and Market stores,” said Dilip Kumar, Vice President of Physical Retail & Technology at Amazon. “Our technology is designed to deliver a fast and frictionless shopping experience, so we’re thrilled to help eliminate checkout lines for fans when they need to refuel during games and between innings.”
At the 19th Hole and Market stores, associates will serve as greeters and provide in-store assistance as needed. Guests purchasing alcohol will be required to show their ID to a store attendant for age verification.
