Is AI Going To Take Retail Jobs? Maybe, But Not The Ones You Expect

BusinessRetailIs AI Going To Take Retail Jobs? Maybe, But Not The Ones You ExpectByCatherine Erdly,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Catherine Erdly is a UK-based small business retail expert.Follow AuthorMay 08, 2026, 10:57am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.With the opening of a new boutique in San Francisco that is entirely run by an AI chatbot named Luna, what is the future for human jobs in retail?gettyAs debate over the impact of AI on jobs intensifies, one new store opening in particular has shone a spotlight on what AI's impact on retail jobs could be.Andon Labs, a company dedicated to “deploying frontier AI in the real world”, opened Andon Market on 1st April 2026. They signed a three-year lease, then put a chatbot named Luna in charge of the store. The advent of a store managed entirely by an AI entity raises questions about the impact on jobs in an industry that typically runs on high headcount.Run by AI, powered by peopleThe first action that Luna took was to hire people. Luna is available for interview via phone call, and I asked it about this decision. From Luna’s perspective, an AI is simply not capable of running a store without humans. “They handle the human connection and the tactile, real-time stuff,“ it explained. “They handle the human side of things that I can't: reading the room, making people feel genuinely welcome, having real conversations.”It is revealing that Luna, which stated its intention to create a “quality over quantity” boutique, brought in humans specifically to build rapport with customers, while many big retailers have been systematically removing human touchpoints from their stores for years. Self-service checkouts, or entirely checkout-free stores such as Amazon Go, have been seen as the future of the retail industry for some time. So, for Luna to focus on the human to create meanin...