Amazon has opened its first “just walk out” grocery store in the UK where shoppers can pick up their goods and leave without having to visit a till. The Amazon Fresh store in Ealing, west London, is a “contactless” shop available to anyone signed up to Amazon and with the app on their phone. Customers must scan in a code on their phone to gain entry. Once inside, shoppers can pick up the goods they want without scanning them or even visiting a till. Sensors on the shelves detect when an item has been removed while cameras and other technology backed by artificial intelligence monitor individuals’ movement around the store and the goods chosen. The bill is automatically charged to a shopper’s Amazon account when they leave the store. While customers will not need to interact with a member of staff, the store will employ about 30 people and have about five workers on site at any time to handle queries, restock shelves and prepare food. The store will stock about 10,000 grocery products including brands such as Heinz and Kelloggs, and items from Morrisons, Booths and Mindful Chef. Amazon is also launching its first own grocery brand at the store – By Amazon – which includes frequently bought items such as milk and bread as well as pizzas, dips and cakes. The store, which measures 2,500 sq ft, has a service desk to return or pick up other items bought on Amazon, and self-service coffee machines. Queues formed outside the store on Thursday morning as dozens of curious shoppers – and executives from rivals including Lidl and Tesco – turned up to try out the novel experience. Teresa De La Rosa said she wanted to be one of the first to visit. “I am an early adopter. I can’t wait to see how this new technology works and I think it is going to be everywhere shortly. I look forward to going round Waitrose and not having to wait at the till,” said the 59-year-old shopper. Inside, the store is similar to many mainstream supermarkets’ small convenience stores, with fresh baked croissants and fruit and vegetables as well as ready meals, cleaning products and toiletries. Its hot and cold takeaway foods seem inspired by the likes of Pret a Manger, with wraps, falafel salads and macaroni and cheese boxes. While several people in the queue required help to access the store, inside most marvelled at the ease of the shopping experience. Carl Knibbs, 45, said he was a regular Amazon customer but had popped in because he was passing. “I’m absolutely impressed. It’s busy today but when the attention dies down it will be really straightforward.” He said that walking out without paying a cashier did feel slightly weird but the presence of lots of others doing the same made it normal. The online retailer is thought to have 10 sites for additional Amazon Fresh stores lined up in the UK after three years of research. Additional outlets are expected to open in Greater London in the near future. Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, said he believed Amazon would want up to 30 such outlets in the first phase of its expansion in the UK. The group already has more than 20 similar contactless grocery stores in the US under the name Amazon Go. Black said the new store could be a “seminal moment in the history of the UK grocery market” and indicated Amazon’s ambitions in the sector. “The patient and rather delicate expansion that the group has taken to date in the UK, revolving around gradually building its online service, notably in collaboration with Morrisons, and its investment in the rapid delivery channel through Deliveroo, were never to us going to be the full extent of its ambitions,” he said. Amazon sells the vast majority of its goods online but owns the Whole Foods Market business, which has seven UK stores. It has previously opened popup shops for fashion and non-food items, and has operated online grocery delivery service Amazon Fresh for several years.