Smart stores specialist VenHub thinks about the future as US-based company builds momentum

While many new store concepts over the past few years have claimed to be automated, Shahan Ohanessian, Founder and CEO at VenHub, says his concept is the world’s first fully autonomous smart store. And, he adds, it’s the future of shopping and store management.

By appearance, VenHub’s store is, as its name suggests, akin to a giant vending machine, a concept most shoppers are already familiar with. “In the early days, someone said, ‘Give me a 30-second pitch,’ so I said, imagine a vending machine getting married to a retail store and having a genius baby,” he laughs.

Today, that genius baby offers vending at scale, turbocharged by AI. The concept is designed for high traffic environments, with each smart store featuring robotic automation, real-time inventory tracking, a mobile first checkout and centralised oversight with the aim of delivering reliable, unattended shopping at scale.

Shoppers pre-order through the VenHub mobile app and, once they are close to the store, two robotic arms within each VenHub prepare the products for collection. These are then delivered to one of the delivery windows, each of which can handle up to 12 items.

The process of collecting the items and leaving takes less than 30 seconds, according to Ohanessian. If shoppers want to add more items once they are at the store, they do so via the mobile app and the process extends to a minute and a half, he says.

VenHub has been built by a team with an Amazon background. Ohanessian himself was an Amazon partner, supplying high end products to the marketplace. “In 2021, I came to my team and said we have smart cars and smartphones, but we don’t have smart retail.”

On a piece of paper that Ohanessian says he still has today, he wrote down the pillars he believed a smart store should be based on. “I wanted it to be customer friendly, smart and fast, safe and secure, open 24 hours a day, easily installed and remotely managed, very low cost entry and a very high profit margin and suitable for every vertical,” he says. “They told me I’d lost my mind, it will never happen. That was exactly the answer I was looking for and that was day one.”

Worldwide demand

The first store opened in October 2025 and is now in LA Union Station and at LAX Metro Transit Centre, amongst other locations. Ohanessian says the concept, suitable for both large and individual operators, has been well received from both ends. “Our pre-orders have gone bonkers, not only in the US but worldwide, but we’ve spent $0 on advertising and this demand is coming from the smallest to the largest operators in the world,” he states.

The concept works very well, he adds, for smaller operators struggling with the operating challenges of running a store, such as crime, shrinkage, finding employees and 24/7 availability and consistent delivery. “VenHub is addressing all these issues,” he says.

The robots that operate the store are nicknamed Bob and Peter, after two friends of Ohanessian. “They don’t do shrinkage and they are working 24/7. We are talking to them all the time and if they are not reaching our level of expectation that we have software wise, we can get the robot to take a break, reboot it and the other will take over.”

Currently, the VenHub unit is available in a fixed size of 22ft in length by 10ft in height and 10ft in depth. However, later this year the company will introduce a modular 4ft long version that will allow it to fit more flexibly into spaces and enable operators to build to the size they want - so three units for a 12ft unit and 10 for a 40ft unit, for example. A mobile version is also planned. 

Offering a standard size enables faster delivery, according to Ohanessian. “Everything in the store can be delivered and installed at your location and be operating ready for grand opening within seven days or less,” he says.

It’s then up to the operator how they brand the store, so long as it includes an ‘operated by VenHub’ acknowledgement. They can choose their colour or wrap the store to their branding or requirements, with LAX wrapping its VenHub as a giftbox over the Christmas period.

As of today, VenHub stores are only in the US, but Ohanessian says demand extends worldwide and his company will begin planning its international expansion strategy in the third quarter.

He notes that there are also greater ambitions in the pipeline. “Our vision is to take an existing retail store and, whether it’s a large brand store or a small store, we can go in, scan the store, learn the store through our vision and AI system and be able to take over the store and provide the same functionality 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Store management

Both ordering and restocking are easy processes set to get even easier, Ohanessian states. “Your phone or iPad will give you live data from your inventory management, so if it hits a threshold, it will say ‘get more of this’. The system has a level of critical but also of predictability and is also smart enough to know it sold more diet yoghurt in January and therefore needs to order more next time.”

Humans are currently needed to manually go in to restock the stores, with the store safely secured so that no one can enter at any other time. However, this is another change due in the next version of VenHub before the end of the year. From that point, window four of the VenHub unit will be a receiving delivery window where Bob and Peter will pick up delivered items from the box, recognise them and restock the unit accordingly.

The existing setup includes refrigerators and dry cabinets, but the next version will add freezers. Although the stores are focused on a convenience product offer today, this will also change as the company scales its aggressive ambitions. “Amazon was a bookstore that became the store of everything in a very short 17 years,” says Ohanessian. “Our goal is to become the store of everything in the next ten years.”

And that won’t be constrained to the current setup but will also include smart stores suitable for any type of retail operation and smart lockers. “Every technology we build, we do so making sure that it fits different products in retail,” he says.

How does it differ?

Ohanessian says the difference between VenHub and concepts such as Amazon’s Just Walk Out are radical. “Other stores are not fully unattended, fully autonomous stores. They are frictionless stores. They still need attendants. The cost of operations is tremendous because there are cameras and RFID readers and if one of those go wrong, then you have an issue. Also, the shrinkage is well over 20% from people who just pick up items and walk out without paying.”

“Ours are totally autonomous and they're a sealed store. We don't have any shrinkage. We don't have any need for employees. The stores will operate 24/7 and we have dual everything so the store can always operate.”

He quotes figures that claim 80% of future retail will be unattended. However, he says he realises that not all customers may like the unattended concept. “We are early stage and it will take time for adoption. We also understand that there are some customers who will be looking for somebody to interact with.”

“So, we're also working on solutions where there’s a live operator, salesperson or even a live virtual person assisting them. We're sensitive to that, and we're always going to look for what's best for the consumer and to see what's the best way to serve them.”

Constantly adapting

The VenHub concept will continue to be adapted as the market and conditions dictate. “We are always changing and always looking for solutions,” says Ohanessian. “We used to have a conveyor belt, but that was not dependable and would break, so we eliminated that. We also had a small pad to order items, but that was being damaged and destroyed, so we learnt from that and now it’s all app-based. Every day we learn something.”

“Also, the stores have so much AI and brains behind them. They will tell you what they sell versus what they don’t sell and will say, ‘hey, stop ordering product A because I’m only selling product B’.”

International expansion is also on the cards, with Europe on the horizon in the next year or two, according to Ohanessian. This will be enabled in part by the launch of the modular version.

“We are amazed at the different organisations reaching out to us, some of which we never thought of as prospective customers - we are blessed with the demand. That’s what we see ourselves in the next couple of years - going to those continents, providing multiple different SKUs and continuing to learn and adapt.”

Making retail work

Despite the high profile names already using VenHub, he says it’s a perfect offer for smaller retailers too, especially since it can enhance the security and safety of retail. “In the early days I used to take some of the customer service calls,” he says.

“I was speaking to a Spanish woman who, within a minute, was crying because her and her husband had a convenience store and their son had been shot while operating it. It’s our duty and our responsibility for future generations to give the store owner a safe place to operate their business.”

But it’s not just about safety. It’s also about being able to enjoy the freedom that such technology advances allow, Ohanessian stresses.

“For centuries, we’ve worked for retail. It’s time for retail to work for us. We’re shifting that dynamic and we can go and have a pina colada on the beach and manage our stores without having to go anywhere near them because they are smart enough to manage themselves.”