‘This is definitely the future’: Black-owned contactless grocery store to expand in metro Atlanta

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — It’s been one year since the owners of Nourish and Bloom, the first autonomous grocery store in Georgia, opened in Fayetteville.

The store has become so popular, it has caught the attention of cities across the state.

“This is definitely the future,” said Jamie Hemmings, who co-owns the store with his wife Jilea Hemmings. “Once [customers] register in the app, and put in their payment information, they’ll put in a QR code. All they would have to do is walk up to the gate, scan the code, and just walk through and start shopping.”

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The store is equipped with a series of 30 cameras placed on the ceiling to track customers as they shop and count the items they select.

Hemmings told Channel 2′s Justin Carter theft has not been an issue.

“We’re not really thinking about that, because we have so many cameras throughout the store,” Hemmings said. “I think its really a deterrent for people not to do bad things.”

The store is the first black-owned autonomous grocery store in the world and business has been thriving.

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“We have great success,” Hemmings said. “People have come in 12 a.m., 2 a.m., 3 a.m. They come in, get what they need, and they walk out.”

The city of Atlanta has caught wind of the store’s success.

“For us, if we can utilize AI to deliver to more people, let’s do that,” Jilea Hemmings said.

The Hemming family just joined the city of Atlanta’s Smart City Initiative, which focuses on better infrastructure and connectivity in the city. They plan to open to container store locations along the beltline soon.

“You’re going to start seeing more Nourish and Bloom stores going into underserved communities,” Hemmings said. ”Just showing up all across the country to make sure you have access 24/7.”

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