TORONTO—A cashierless convenience store has opened in Toronto, according to Daily Hive. Aisle 24 is a completely unmanned convenience store open 24 hours a day. In order to shop, customers must download the Aisle 24 app and register for an account to gain access to the store.

The company, which was founded in 2015, plans to open at least six more locations by the end of 2022, and it will offer two store formats—one is a smaller store located in residential communities and the other is bigger and accessible to the general community.

CEO and co-founder John Douang said they have plans to expand across Canada by 2023. Aisle 24 launched its first cashierless grocery store in 2016 in Toronto in partnership with Knightstone Capital and Centennial College in a student residence building.

Last month, Amazon announced it is opening two Whole Foods Market stores equipped with Just Walk Out technology, which allows customers to bypass the self-checkout line and walk out of the store with their products. Also, A2Z Smart Technologies is deploying a smart shopping cart pilot program at two New York City grocery stores, allowing customers to gather products and pay for them in-cart.

Frictionless technology is increased in convenience stores. NACS Magazine discussed how c-stores can deliver a frictionless experience in “The ‘Vision’ of Future Checkout” in the August 2020 issue.