Aldi has ended its checkout-free shopping trial and converted its lone Shop & Go store into a standard, urban branch.
The discounter’s Shop & Go contactless concept store opened in Greenwich, London, in January 2022, and was fitted with Amazon-style technology that meant that shoppers could use an app to enter, pick up their products and walk out.
The Shop & Go app is now telling shoppers: “News: our Shop & Go trial has now come to an end as planned, meaning your Greenwich High Road store will remain open as an Aldi Local.
“Like our other stores, you’d find the same great product range and unbeatable Aldi prices, as well as our self-service checkouts.”
An Aldi spokesperson told The Grocer: “While our Shop & Go trial has now come to an end as planned, our Greenwich High Road store will remain open as an Aldi Local, ensuring customers can still get everything they need at unbeatable Aldi prices.”
At the time, many grocers were expecting this form of technology to be very popular with customers. Amazon had recently opened its first Fresh store, and had said it planned to open 260 of them by 2025.
Amazon’s physical expansion plans forced many grocers into taking action on checkout-free shopping, with Tesco and Sainsbury’s both piloting the technology themselves.
However, it never took off with customers. Tesco and Sainsbury’s both quietly scrapped their trials, while Amazon never managed to open more than 20 UK stores and the tech giant announced in September 2025 that it would be mothballing the stores to focus on expanding its grocery ecommerce offer in the UK.
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