Checking out the new Amazon 4-star store in New York

Amazon on Thursday opened its newest store concepts called the Amazon 4 star. The 4,000 square feet New York city store includes about 2,000 items which are all rated 4 stars and above, a top sellers or a new and trending on Amazon's website. The store sells kitchen ware, kids' toys, video game consoles, books, and a lot of Amazon devices and smart home products. There's also a section for items that are trending or top sellers in New York. The digital price tags show listed prices as well as lower prices for Prime members. When we visited for the opening day, there were a lot of folks coming in and out of the store to check it out. And several even stuck around to buy some stuff. Four star is one of a handful of new store formats from Amazon, including Amazon Books bookstores, Amazon convenience stores, and Amazon pop up kiosks at malls. Amazon, the world's largest online seller, Is likely testing out all these different store ideas in hopes of cracking the code for physical retail, where it's a much smaller player. Today about 90% of all retail sales happen in stores, not online. So Amazon may have to open a lot more stores, if it wants to bring in even more customers. If 4-Star is a success with the New York City crowd, Maybe it'll help Amazon get one step closer to taking the lead in physical retail too.