7 Grocery Chains Where You Can Skip the Checkout Line Entirely

You’re probably no stranger to the wrap-around lines that can form at the grocery store. Not even self-checkout lanes are exempt from this during busy hours.

A new checkout method some grocery chains are implementing lets you opt out of standard and self-checkout lines altogether, though. All you need is a smartphone.

So if you’re ready to walk in and walk out of a store without getting stopped by security, then these stores are ready to welcome you.

1. Giant Eagle

Giant Eagle’s Scan Pay Go program is as easy as it sounds. Download the Scan Pay Go app on your smartphone and track what you’re grabbing from the shelves. You can place products in your own reusable bags right as you grab them.

Just wrap up at one of the dedicated Scan Pay Go lanes when you’re done. You’ll still be able to use any coupons and loyalty program perks.

Giant Eagle has locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Maryland.

2. BJ’s Wholesale Club

The BJ’s app has an Express Pay feature that allows customers to pay right from their phones. The app provides a QR code after the purchase; customers just have to show a staff member the bar code as they leave. Digital coupons that customers “clip” in-app are also useable, but paper coupons aren’t.

BJ’s has locations in more than a dozen states: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.

3. Sam’s Club

Sam’s Club customers can use the chain’s app to scan products as they shop in-store through the Scan and Go feature. When done, customers pay in the app and show an employee the exit code as they leave.

EBT cards, Sam’s Cash and gift cards are still useable through the Scan and Go feature. But it’s only useable on smartphones, not tablets.

4. 7-Eleven

While 7-Eleven isn’t technically a grocery store, it sells food and drink and lets you skip the line — perfect!

Customers can use the 7-Eleven app on their phones to scan product bar codes, then check out through the app, and scan a provided QR code at a confirmation station before leaving the store.

This feature isn’t available at every location, though, so you’ll have to see what your local 7-Eleven offers.

5. Amazon Go

Amazon Go is an Amazon-brand corner store — not a traditional grocery store — that offers customers brewed coffee, breakfast and lunch, snacks, alcohol, and local baked goods. It’s also a location for customers to return any Amazon packages.

The crazy part is that customers don’t even need to scan products like they would through most other programs. You just need to use the Amazon app, a credit card or Amazon One at participating locations to open an entry gate to the store. Pick up any items you want, then simply walk out. No bar codes, nothing. Just exit through the gate and you’ll be charged for what you take with you.

Amazon Go has locations in California, Washington, Illinois and New York.

6. Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods has begun introducing Dash Carts. Each Dash Cart is equipped with scanners, scales and sensors that detect which products are being selected. To use them, customers scan the In-Store Code in the Whole Foods Market or Amazon app on the cart’s scanner.

Then they scan and bag groceries as they shop and, when done, exit through designated Dash Cart lanes. The cart detects when customers are done shopping and charges through the Amazon or Whole Foods app.

This feature is currently only available at a Westford, Massachusetts, store — but the chain says it’s working on adding the feature to more locations.

7. Aldi

ALDIgo is also a new feature only active at one of the chain’s stores in the Chicago area. The program lets shoppers pay through the Grabango app or with their credit or debit card at the Grabango station near the store’s exit. Grabango uses “computer vision” that lets customers avoid any scanning altogether.