Whole Foods has partnered with Square to deploy its iPad checkout system inside the grocery store chain at counters selling ready-to-consume products like pizza, coffee and sandwiches, supplementing the chain's traditional checkout lanes at the front of the store.

Reports TIME:

Whole Foods Store

The company has signed a deal to put its iPad-based payment systems inside Whole Food Market grocers in the U.S., where they’ll be used at counters that sell ready-to-consume products — from pizza and sandwiches to coffee, beer and wine — as a supplement to the conventional checkouts at the front of the store. Customers will be able to pay with credit and debit cards, cash and, in some locations, by using the Square Wallet smartphone app. The idea is to expedite things both for people making a quick purchase from one of these venues and for those who are at the checkouts with a cartful of groceries.

It's unclear if Whole Foods will use the Square Stand cash register or some other iPad solution, but TIME says some locations will support the Square Wallet app.

The deal makes Whole Foods the second major retailer to roll out Square's technology. In 2012, Square and Starbucks formed a partnership that saw Square take over credit card processing at Starbucks stores in the U.S.

Top Rated Comments

Narrator Jack Avatar
147 months ago
[redacted]
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Blakjack Avatar
147 months ago
And to think, one phone started it all.

If you owned one in 2007, you just knew you were holding a piece of history.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
furi0usbee Avatar
147 months ago
And to think, one phone started it all.

If you owned one in 2007, you just knew you were holding a piece of history.
Was at a friend of a friend's party right after it launched. At that time, I only had a cheap Razor. Some girl across from me had one, and she was showing it to everyone. I held it, touched it, and I instantly needed one, and got one the next day. I mean it was that easy for Apple to sell me on it. I just touched it.

Then when the iPad came out, I was really against it, thought what good could this thing do... a big iPhone. Wasn't interested. Went to a Best Buy, held one, used it for 5 min, then bought it.

But yeah, I knew this was the future of phones, much like anyone else with half a brain.

EDIT: "I held it, touched it, and I instantly needed one, and got one the next day." I'm referring to the phone of course, not the girl sitting across from me. Just a clarification :)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
osofast240sx Avatar
147 months ago
Rip NFC
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oneMadRssn Avatar
147 months ago
random i just read a story today that the US is only now starting to implement Chip + PIN cards? i couldnt believe people are still "swiping and signing" seems so unsecure and 2001 to me

Glad you pointed this out. I agree that it's insecure. How is a chip + pin more secure though? Most of the data breaches happen well after the transaction has occurred, where hackers steal the stored card data. Often that data is encrypted, and they also gain access to the key. I don't think any chip and pin really addresses this issue; though I could be mistaken.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MellowFuzz Avatar
147 months ago
Just adding a pointless post to express my hatred of Whole Fascists - food shouldn't look like propaganda. Looking at it, you'd never guess it come from messy, muddy, varied nature. Also, the prepared-foods are utterly overrated and surprisingly dire.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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