DoorDash Launches Virtual DashMart Convenience Stores In Select Cities

A handful of big cities are the first markets to offer DashMart, a new type of virtual convenience store from online delivery service DoorDash. The company describes DashMart as a sort of general store for many smaller, common items from brands and restaurants that you may otherwise have to order individually elsewhere, or as part of a larger multi-store order through DoorDash. The company already has plans to expand the virtual shop's availability.

DoorDash is known for its personal delivery service, which involves gig economy workers picking up the items customers order from the stores of their choosing, then delivering them to the buyer. Earlier this year, the company expanded its service to include convenience stores in addition to grocery stores, expanding the variety of items that customers can order.

Here to build upon that is DashMart, a virtual convenience store currently only available in the following cities: Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Redwood City, and Salt Lake City. However, DoorDash has a planned expansion into Baltimore, Concord, CA, Sacramento, and San Diego planned for later this year.

What exactly is DashMart? The company is a bit hazy on the details, but indicates that this new virtual convenience store enables local companies to sell products that would otherwise not be available to order through the traditional DoorDash system — things like specialty BBQ and hot sauces, recipe books, proprietary spice mixes, and that sort of thing.

As well, the virtual convenience stores will offer a variety of more mundane goods that people commonly purchase, such as drinks, snacks, candy, ice cream, as well as non-food items like suntan lotion, pet food, OTC medicine, and similar things. The company says that 'thousands' of items will be made available through its DashMarts, which will serve local markets.