Amazon to open first Go store that accepts cash

NEW YORK: Amazon launched its high-tech Go convenience store a year ago, where shoppers can pull items off the shelf and walk out. Now it's adding a decidedly low-tech feature: accepting cash.

Its new store opening in New York City Tuesday will be the first Amazon Go store to do so. At its other shops, customers can only enter with an app that links to a credit card or an Amazon account.

The company, facing backlash from critics who say cashless stores discriminate against the poor, confirmed last month that it was working on a way to accept paper bill and coins.

In the new store, employee will swipe those who want to pay by cash through the turnstile entrance. After shoppers grab what they want off the shelves, an employee will scan each item with a mobile device and check them out. There still won't be cash registers in the store.

Cameron Janes, who oversees Amazon's physical stores, says the way it accepts cash could change in the future, but declined to give details. "This is how we're starting," he says. "We're going to learn from customers on what works and what doesn't work and then iterate and improve it over time."

In recent years, a small but growing number of stores around the country have gone cash-free. But some activists and politicians say that discriminates against people who don't have a bank account.

Philadelphia became the first city to ban cashless stores earlier this year. New Jersey passed a statewide ban soon after, and similar laws are being considered in New York City and San Francisco.