'It was like the Willy Wonka golden ticket': Amazon customer reveals his first experience inside the tech giant's new invite-only grocery store that's nothing like Whole Foods

Amazon opened its new grocery concept, Amazon Fresh, in Woodland Hills, California.Business Insider/Courtesy of Eric Wein

• We got an exclusive look inside Amazon's new grocery store from one of the few customers allowed inside.
• "It was like the Willy Wonka golden ticket," customer Eric Wein said of getting invited to the store. He said it's a "beautiful" store and very clean, and that he thinks it will be a big success.
• The store, called Amazon Fresh, is currently accessible only to a select group of invited customers, and will open to the broader public in the coming weeks.
• Amazon is planning to open additional Fresh stores in California and Illinois.

Amazon launched an entirely new grocery concept last week in Woodland Hills, California, and invited only a few select customers inside.

The store, called Amazon Fresh, looks like a cross between a discount grocer, a traditional supermarket, and a Whole Foods store. It carries national brands such as Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay, as well as Whole Foods' private-label 365 brand.

It also sells general merchandise, such as air fryers and Instant Pots, and features a display table with Amazon tablets and smart speakers.

Local resident Eric Wein is one of the few customers who has been invited to shop at the new store.

"It was like the Willy Wonka golden ticket," he said of getting the invitation to the store, which has generated considerable buzz around Amazon's future grocery plans.

Amazon said it plans to open the Woodland Hills store to the general public in the coming weeks, but provided no specific opening date. The company also confirmed plans to open additional Fresh stores in California (North Hollywood, Northridge, and Irvine) and Illinois (Naperville, Schaumburg, and Oak Lawn). Amazon declined to comment on when those stores would open.

Here's what Wein saw during his visit to the Woodland Hills store.