Amazon is opening a new store that only sells its best products

Amazon

• Amazon is opening a new store concept called Amazon 4-star on Thursday.
• The store is located in New York's Soho neighborhood, a hotbed of shopping in Manhattan.
• The store will only feature items that customers have rated four stars and above, as well as products that the website's data says is trending and on customers' wish lists.
• It opens just in time for the holidays but is a permanent store.

Amazon is letting its customer ratings do the talking at its new store.

Called Amazon 4-star, the new concept will only stock items that have been rated four stars or above on average by customers on Amazon.com, according to a blog post announcing the new store, which opens on Thursday in New York City. That means it will only include the best of the best - Amazon says the current assortment averages 4.4 stars.

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The assortment of the store will run wide, from Amazon's own devices and other consumer electronics to kitchen and home. Toys and games are also a focus, as is Amazon's original focus, books.

Amazon will also use data from sales and customer wish lists to display trending or wished-for items, even localized to the New York area.

The store is located in New York's Soho neighborhood. Though it opens just in time for the holiday season, it's not a holiday popup. The store is a permanent fixture in the neighborhood, which has seen plenty of other online-only brands open stores in recent years.

The newest store takes a page from the company's line of Amazon Books stores, which charge customers full suggested retail price unless the buyer is a Prime member. If they do, they instead receive the Amazon.com price, which is often at least a little bit cheaper. Digital price tags will show both the full price and the Amazon.com price, which frequently changes based on Amazon's secret pricing algorithm, so customers can easily decide.

Amazon 4-Star is just the latest foray into physical retail by Amazon, which has been expanding its Amazon Books stores, opening seasonal pop-ups in malls and other locations, and reportedly greatly expanding its automated Amazon Go stores.