The Amazon Fresh grocery store that opened with fanfare at White Oak Town Center in Silver Spring operated for roughly 10 months before going dark, and now the empty building is headed for a makeover. The roughly 41,000-square-foot space is expected to be subdivided to accommodate more than one retail or restaurant tenant, with construction expected to commence this winter.
That timeline comes from a source with knowledge of the plans, as reported by East MoCo, which places the former grocery store at 12263 Prosperity Terrace in White Oak Town Center. That address differs slightly from the one cited in Bethesda Magazine, which reported the store's location as 12263 Prosperity Drive when it covered the store's opening last year. No further details on the number or identity of future tenants have been confirmed.
The Silver Spring location had a short run. It opened on the morning of March 27, 2025, following a grand-opening celebration attended by county officials and community members, according to Bethesda Magazine's report at the time. The store joined other White Oak Town Center tenants including Jersey Mike's Subs, Starbucks, the county-owned Oak Barrel & Vine liquor store and the then-recently opened First Watch restaurant, per the same account.
A Chain of Closures Across the Region
Bethesda Magazine's March 2025 report covered the Silver Spring store's opening. Amazon announced in January 2026 that it would close its remaining 57 Fresh stores across eight states, according to Newsday.
Amazon has framed the pullback from standalone Fresh and Go stores as part of a pivot toward its Whole Foods brand. In a statement, the company said it had made the difficult decision to close its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores, converting various locations into Whole Foods Market stores, according to aboutamazon.com. The company said it now plans to invest in opening more than 100 new Whole Foods Market stores over the next few years, while also expanding Same-Day Delivery of fresh groceries to many more communities in 2026. Amazon's online grocery delivery already reaches customers in more than 5,000 U.S. cities and towns, the company said.
Other Former Fresh Sites Find New Uses
Elsewhere in the region, shuttered Fresh locations are being repurposed rather than subdivided. Newsday reported that the former Amazon Fresh store at 3620 Long Beach Road in Oceanside, Long Island, is set to become a Whole Foods, with Amazon assigning the lease for the 47,300-square-foot space to its wholly owned subsidiary. In Lorton, Virginia, a permit was filed to convert a former Amazon Fresh storefront into an Aldi, according to the Washington Business Journal. That 38,741-square-foot space in Lorton Marketplace was one of 10 Amazon Fresh locations that closed in January.
Unlike those single-tenant conversions, the plan for the Silver Spring site calls for splitting the space among multiple retail or restaurant users rather than handing it to one grocery chain. The approach fits patterns identified in a recent Montgomery Planning study, which found the county's overall retail sector remains healthy and resilient even as future growth leans on reinvestment rather than new construction. The study found that reinvestment and redevelopment of older shopping centers, along with a shift toward smaller spaces and experience-focused businesses, will drive retail growth in the county going forward.
Smaller Footprints, Bigger Appetite for Dining
Montgomery Planning's study also found that retailers increasingly prefer smaller, more adaptable spaces as e-commerce continues to reshape the industry, with greater emphasis on renovating and repositioning existing retail space. Retail space inside mixed-use buildings in the county grew nearly 50 percent from 2015 to 2025, accounting for about a quarter of all new retail space added during that decade, according to the planning agency.
Food and beverage businesses stand to benefit most from that shift. The same study projects that food and beverage spending will make up roughly half of the county's expected $1.6 billion in retail spending growth between 2025 and 2030 — a trend that could shape which tenants eventually fill the subdivided White Oak space once construction gets underway.
