N.J.’s 1st Amazon Fresh grocery store is a poorly stocked letdown. Here’s our review.

As Amazon expands its mammoth footprint with new tech-savvy Amazon Fresh grocery stores, its first New Jersey location opened last week in Paramus.

The store’s unique “walk-in, walk-out” shopping model is the attraction here — customers simply need to scan in with their Amazon account, shop as they normally would, and then scan out as they leave the store. No cashiers, no lines, what a world!

As I consider myself a fairly discerning supermarket shopper — ShopRite forever, Trader Joe’s when I’m feeling fancy, Stop & Shop can kick rocks — I had to see for myself if this groundbreaking grocer was really worth the trip up Route 17.

Walking in, I grabbed a cart — no smart carts here like some other Amazon stores, just boring hard plastic — and inside, just beyond the automatic doors, was a line of automated gates with a scanner on the right side. Some people, myself included, were confused on how to physically enter the store, but luckily there were a few employees on hand to help.

I opened the Amazon app on my phone and the friendly employee pointed me towards the “in-store code” tab. I used the scanner to read the barcode on my screen and was welcomed inside. I learned later there was a separate entrance for customers who don’t have an Amazon account (there are also cashiers for those shoppers).

My first impression was that Amazon Fresh looked like just about any other grocery store, with its produce, bakery, meat and seafood sections, and separate aisles for dry goods along with the addition of their “Fresh Kitchen,” offering a hot and cold bar. They also have “Ask Alexa” areas throughout the store to help find items — where was this when my parents were searching for saffron in 1994?!

I was disappointed to see the store was so poorly stocked. They barely had anything in their bakery, only a small collection of meat cuts, and their seafood cases were not yet in use. I also would’ve loved to enjoy the 20% Prime member discount they offered on certain foods in the Fresh Kitchen, if any had been left.

It was unclear whether the shelves were empty because of high customer demand — the store was busy but by no means overrun — or because the store just wasn’t operating at full capacity yet. Either way, a store owned by Amazon — a company defined by its commitment to efficiency — should have its shelves stocked in the middle of the day, especially in a high-traffic locale like Paramus.

Everything the store did offer could be found at your local ShopRite or Wegmans, the lone exception being its “Best of Amazon” corner, with a very small selection of merchandise including books, home and kitchen appliances and Amazon devices.

Despite my disappointment as to how generic the new store’s merchandise was, I was still intrigued to find out exactly how its walk-in, walk-out method worked without me scanning any of the items in my cart. I asked a nearby employee and they pointed toward the ceiling. That’s when I saw scanners everywhere.

Whoa. I’m not talking about one or two. They were scattered all over the ceiling, a few feet apart, scanning and monitoring everything customers put into their carts. I felt like I was being recorded for a reality TV show. “Lauren, do you accept this roll of cinnamon buns?”

Once I was done, I walked to the exit and just like I came in, – with a scan of the bar code, which billed the credit card attached to Amazon account — I was out. A receipt was sent to my email a few hours later.

All in all, my first Amazon Fresh experience was a largely a dud. Maybe I visited too soon, but again, what sort of grocery store opens before they can stock their shelves? Though not having to stand in a line to check out was a sure time-saver. But if you can’t get what you came for, what good is it? Hopefully the store can soon meet all its shoppers’ needs.

Jen, another first-time customer who I spoke to on my way out, said her experience was also subpar.

“Checkout was a breeze,” said Jen. “But I was not impressed as there wasn’t much in the store at all – definitely a letdown.”

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Lauren Musni may be reached at lmusni@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Laurengmusni. Find NJ.com on Facebook.