Amazon's Woodland Hills Grocery Store Temporarily Opens For Online Orders Only

WOODLAND HILLS (CBSLA) – Amazon's first ever brick-and-mortar grocery store has temporarily opened in Woodland Hills, but with a catch: it's only being used to fulfill online orders amid a surge in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a blog post Sunday, the e-commerce giant reported that it had opened the Woodland Hills store as a "temporary online-only store, focused exclusively on fulfilling grocery delivery orders."

The store is located in the 6200 block of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, in a building which used to belong to a Toys "R" Us. Construction got underway back in November.

The store is completely separate from the Whole Foods chain, which Amazon purchased back in 2017.

Due to the surge in demand for online grocery delivery service, Amazon announced Sunday that new customers who sign up for Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market delivery and pickup service will have to get on a waitlist before they can order.

Amazon said that it has increased the number of Whole Foods stores capable of fulfilling grocery pickup service from 80 to 150 stores.

Furthermore, Amazon announced that it has hired 100,000 new employees nationwide since the coronavirus outbreak took hold, with plans to hire 75,000 more.

Earlier this month, Amazon said it had begun doing temperature checks on its employees as they began arriving for work. Amazon also said it would start firing employees who fail to stay six feet apart after two warnings.