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Amazon Fresh stores in Chevy Chase, Franconia get a refresh

By Jeff Clabaugh

Amazon, which recently resumed openings of new Fresh grocery stores after a yearlong pause, held “grand reopenings” for two of its D.C.-area stores Saturday.

The redesigned Amazon Fresh stores, in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and Franconia, Virginia, followed similar redesigns of Fresh stores in Chicago and Southern California. The stores carry more national brands, higher-quality produce and meats, and more of Amazon’s own private-label brands, including Aplenty, Amazon Fresh, 365 by Whole Foods and Amazon’s newest private-label brand, Amazon Saver.

Some changes have also been made to the stores’ layouts.

Neither store closed during the changes. The Franconia store, which opened in 2021, was the first Amazon Fresh store in the D.C. area as part of its East Coast expansion. The Chevy Chase store, near the Friendship Heights Metro station, opened that same year. Amazon opened a second Fresh store in Chevy Chase in 2022.

There are other Amazon Fresh stores in Fairfax City, Lorton and Manassas. Its newest Fresh store is in Potomac Yard in Alexandria, which opened in July. Another opened in Gaithersburg in August. And similar upgrades are likely.

“Based on what we have heard and seen from customers and heard from our teams, we will continue to bring the concept to new and existing store locations with many of the elements you see in Chevy Chase and Franconia,” an Amazon spokesman said.

In addition to the D.C. area and Southern California, the only other Fresh stores are in the Chicago area, Seattle area, Philadelphia area and New York and New Jersey.

There are about 50 Fresh stores nationally. The Amazon Fresh store in Crystal City closed earlier this year.

“We are doing a fair bit of experimentation today in those stores to try to find a format that we think resonates with customers,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said following Amazon’s fourth quarter earnings report in February. “We’ve decided over the last year or so that we’re not going to expand the physical Fresh until we have that equation.”

Amazon has since slowly resumed Fresh additions. This summer, in addition to the Potomac Yard and Gaithersburg locations, Amazon opened nine other Fresh stores in other markets.

Massachusetts court hears arguments in lawsuit alleging Meta designed apps to be addictive to kids

By The Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state's lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users. The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use the social media platforms. “We are making claims based only on the tools that Meta has developed because its own research shows they encourage addiction to the platform in a variety of ways,” said State Solicitor David Kravitz, adding that the state's claim has nothing to do the company's algorithms or failure to moderate content. Meta said Friday that it strongly disagrees with the allegations and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” Its attorney, Mark Mosier, argued in court that the lawsuit “would impose liabilities for performing traditional publishing functions” and that its actions are protected by the First Amendment.
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