Amazon Opens 4-Star Retail Store With Highly Rated, Top-Selling Products

Amazon (AMZN) is stepping even further into brick-and-mortar retail operations. The e-commerce firm founded by Jeff Bezos announced Wednesday that it had opened a new kind of retail outlet in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood called Amazon 4-Star.

The store’s name is derived from the fact that its inventory, by and large, is rated four stars or higher on Amazon’s website. Top-selling products and items that are “trending” on Amazon are also carried by the store.

“We created Amazon 4-star to be a place where customers can discover products they will love,” Amazon’s press release said. “Amazon 4-star’s selection is a direct reflection of our customers—what they’re buying and what they’re loving.”

Much like other Amazon retail operations, Amazon 4-Star offers benefits those who subscribe to its Prime program. In particular, Amazon Prime members can find an item in the store and buy it for what it costs on Amazon’s website, in the event that price is lower than the price in store.

Regarding the store’s product inventory, there have been concerns in recent years that product reviews on Amazon are not trustworthy. The company banned paid reviews and insists most of them are accurate, but a Washington Post investigation earlier this year concluded there are still a number of suspicious reviews on the site.

Amazon 4-Star is the newest foray into retail for Amazon. The Seattle-based firm also operates a handful of cashier-less Amazon Go convenience stores in the United States. A recent report indicated Amazon plans to have 3,000 of those up and running by 2021, which would make it a serious competitor to other convenience store chains.

Amazon also started implementing Prime savings and other features in Whole Foods organic grocery stores earlier this year. The company’s stock price went up nearly 2 percent on Thursday.