Fully autonomous store at UBC campus uses Amazon's Just Walk Out tech | Daily Hive

Fully autonomous store at UBC campus is the first in B.C. to use Amazon's Just Walk Out technology

UBC's Gage Market using Amazon's Just Walk Out tech. (Kenneth Chan)

Last year, the University of British Columbia (UBC) opened a fully autonomous convenience store at its Vancouver campus, offering a glimpse into the future of retail with no staff, no cashiers, no checkout lines, and no need for smartphone apps.

Located inside the publicly accessible main lobby area of the Gage Commons student residence complex, Gage Market operates using Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, allowing customers to enter, shop, and leave without stopping to pay at a register.

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This UBC store is the first autonomous store in British Columbia and the first in the province to use Amazon’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered technology. It is also the only publicly accessible autonomous store in B.C. using the company’s system. Earlier this week, Amazon opened a Just Walk Out store exclusively for its office staff in a newly built upper-level workspace in the North Tower of The Post complex in downtown Vancouver.

The UBC location also represents one of the first implementations of the technology on a post-secondary campus in Canada, with the university monitoring its operations and use over time to consider the possibility of creating more autonomous stores on the campus.

UBC’s Gage Market is open 24 hours a day to students, staff, faculty, and visitors, and is designed to streamline the shopping process.

ubc gate market amazon just walk out autonomous store

UBC’s Gage Market using Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech. (Kenneth Chan)

Amazon’s Just Walk Out system combines AI with computer vision and sensor technology to monitor customer activities in real time. The fully autonomous operation enables extended hours and flexible access, allowing customers to shop whenever it suits them — day or night.

The store carries familiar convenience items, including snacks, beverages, ice cream, fresh and frozen meals, and personal care products.

Instead of traditional checkout systems, customers simply tap a credit card at the entrance gate to gain access.

Once inside, shoppers can pick up items and leave when finished. A comprehensive network of overhead cameras and weight-based sensors on the shelves automatically tracks what is taken or returned, adding items to a virtual cart and automatically charging the customer when they pass through the exit gate.

To leave the store, customers press a button next to the exit gate. The system ensures accurate billing without requiring any manual scanning or checkout.

UBC’s Gage Market using Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech. (Kenneth Chan)

Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology is also increasingly being adopted around the world at stadiums, convention centres, airports, hospitals, general convenience stores, and other university campuses.

Upon inquiry, Amazon spokesperson Kristin Gable told Daily Hive Urbanized the company’s fully autonomous retail technology is now found in over 250 third-party locations across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, as well as dozens of Amazon-owned locations, such as stores for office staff only.

In Canada, the technology is already found at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena and BMO Field, and Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome. Just south of Metro Vancouver, it is also a fixture of Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

“In 2024, we launched more third-party stores with Just Walk Out technology than any year prior. The technology serves different needs across various industries — helping airport retailers serve travellers during tight connection windows, allowing sports venues to reduce lines during critical pre-game and halftime rushes, enabling healthcare facilities to provide around-the-clock food access, and enhancing campus retail at universities,” said Gable.

“This diverse adoption demonstrates the technology’s adaptability across various retail environments where customers value speed and convenience.”

Just Walk Out store for Amazon office staff; Amazon’s office space in the North Tower of The Post, March 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

Amazon Just Walk Out Store x The Post March 2026

Just Walk Out store for Amazon office staff; Amazon’s office space in the North Tower of The Post, March 2026. (Christopher Cho)

However, early this year, the retailer announced it will wind down its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh Food standalone publicly accessible retail stores — importantly, not to be confused for an unwinding of the overall Just Walk Out technology it also provides to third parties, like UBC for operating Gage Market. Instead of maintaining and growing Amazon’s in-house fully autonomous store chain, there will be a renewed emphasis on expanding its Whole Foods Market division.

“While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion,” reads a release from the company in January 2026. Over the coming years, Amazon plans to open over 100 new grocery stores under its Whole Foods Market chain.

B.C.’s second publicly accessible fully autonomous convenience store opened in Spring 2026 at The Landmark complex on Robson Street in downtown Vancouver’s West End. The Aisle24 store uses different technology, and requires customers to download the retail chain’s smartphone app and register for an account to access the streetfront store and make purchases.

Aisle24, a Toronto-based chain that has so far primarily focused on expanding across southern Ontario, plans to open a location in the Cascade City building at 5788 Gilbert Rd., near the Richmond Olympic Oval, in June 2026. The company intends to open more locations in B.C. in the future.

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