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Amazon to Open a New ‘4-Star’ Physical Store Concept in New York

Amazon.com will open a new store in New York City on Thursday featuring top-selling and highly rated product.

Amazon to Open a New ‘4-Star’ Physical Store Concept in New York
An Amazon logo sits on a collection cart for customer orders on the opening day of the new Amazon.Com Inc in Czech Republic. (Photographer: Martin Divisek/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. will open a new store in New York City on Thursday featuring top-selling and highly rated products, the online retailer’s latest effort at physical stores, where most consumer spending still occurs.

Dubbed "Amazon 4-Star," the new location will feature devices, kitchen items, toys, books, and games. All products are items sold on Amazon that customers have rated four stars and above, are top sellers, or are new and trending. Members of the company’s Prime subscription service pay the online price, while other shoppers pay more.

"Amazon 4-star’s selection is a direct reflection of our customers -- what they’re buying and what they’re loving," the company said in a blog post.

Amazon sees physical stores as key to maintaining rapid revenue growth. The company will have 49.1 percent of online sales in the U.S. this year, but just 4.9 percent of all retail spending since most money is still spent in stores, according to EMarketer Inc.

Amazon’s other physical stores include about 20 bookstores, its 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods Market and its AmazonGo concept, a convenience store that lets people check in with a smartphone app, grab what they want and leave without going to a cash register.

The company is considering a plan to open as many as 3,000 new AmazonGo locations in the next few years, people familiar with matter told Bloomberg last week.

To contact the reporter on this story: Spencer Soper in Seattle at ssoper@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr, Andrew Pollack

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.