Future of retail? Robot-run bodegas take over L.A.
At the recent opening of Los Angeles’s newest rail station, just a few miles from LAX, politicians and members of the media gawked at the new train platforms, escalators, elevators, and a gleaming piece of art that hung over the open-air, elevated mezzanine. Downstairs from all the shiny new infrastructure, a different component of the station — a fully automated convenience store that utilizes robots to dispense sodas, snacks, and sundries to customers — elicited numerous ooohs and aaahs.
Called VenHub, the bright blue “Smart Store” operates 24 hours a day without human employees and is only accessible via a downloadable app. Once an order is placed, robots pick up the items with suction cups or finger-like grippers and deposit them in delivery windows. An alert on the app lets you know your purchase is ready, and a QR code opens the window.
VenHub CEO Shahan Ohanessian tells Mashable that the robots, named Barb and Peter after two of his friends, are designed as co-pilots that assist each other.
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"If Peter’s not feeling well because of a software issue, he’ll take a rest and Barb takes over," Ohanessian says.
Water, soda, iced coffee, chips, nuts, fruit, and candy are all available at VenHubs, as are non-food items like toothpaste, Tylenol, tampons, razors, Emergen-C, and even earpods and phone chargers. VenHub’s lack of human labor at the kiosks appears to translate to lower costs for patrons, with, for example, a Fiji water bottle selling for $1.39, a Starbucks Frappuccino going for $1.89, Nature Valley granola bars priced at $4.99, and even a USB cord selling for $5.99.
Ohanessian acknowledges that his product replaces human jobs but also believes it creates new ones. In addition to employees managing the robots and automation, human workers restock the VenHubs when needed, he says.
"The store has a lot of AI and technology behind it," Ohanessian says, "[The tech will] tell [company headquarters], 'Hey, we need more water or yogurt.'"
VenHub's technology extends to its security protections, which include cameras, sensors, and bulletproof glass.
Ohanessian, a former Amazon logistics executive who began developing the idea for VenHub four years ago, says his kiosks are the future of small stores, not just in busy places like big city airports, but also in spots lacking retail options.
"There are some locations [being considered] in Texas where it’s a small community, but they just don’t have a convenience store," Ohanessian says.
Other VenHubs are currently scattered around greater Los Angeles, where VenHub is headquartered, but the company has expansions planned for Las Vegas and the East Coast (the company's website proclaims the kiosks are "engineered to withstand extreme weather conditions"). Ohanessian also hopes to make them ubiquitous throughout the nation's airports, and to partner with Los Angeles's transit agency to add more VenHubs throughout the growing (and mostly amenity-free) rail system.
"We're witnessing history, the first airport to see the first unattended smart store," Ohanessian said as his robots deposited potato chips and bottles of water. "That’s where the world is going in the years to come."
Neal joined Mashable’s Social Good team in 2024, editing and writing stories about digital culture and its effects on the environment and marginalized communities. He is the former editorial director of The Advocate and Out magazines, has contributed to the Los Angeles Times, Curbed, and Los Angeles magazine, and is a recipient of the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for LGBTQ Journalist of the Year Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association (NLGJA). He lives in Los Angeles with his family.
