Amazon 4 stars is a dream shop for last-minute donors

Yesterday, Amazon opened another retail outlet in New York. But this one, the third in Manhattan, is different from Amazon Books. It's called Amazon 4 stars and its name suggests the principle of the store: Amazon 4-star items have an average rating of four stars and more. There are also sections for new / trends and bestsellers, where flagship products do not have to meet the four stars.

Shop selection will be changed and refreshed frequently – in some cases, according to an employee I've talked to – but some pillars (such as Amazon's hardware products) will obviously be an essential part of the store.

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In total, Amazon 4 Star stores about 2,000 items on its shelves and tables. All have been selected and chosen by Amazon, eliminating any company that uses the critics system, and there are few surprises in regards to the brands you will see.

The kitchen section stores a ton of OXO Good Grips accessories, the Instant Pot, a Takeya coffee maker, Keurigs, etc. Plus a ton of AmazonBasics cookware, as you might expect. You will see very few random or unknown businesses on these shelves and many of those you may be familiar with. Wire cutter. In addition to certain items, you will find a small card with a quote from an Amazon customer reviewer.

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For now, Amazon is focusing on these areas in what it chooses to sell to 4 stars:

• features
• Consumer electronics
• Cooked
• Home
• Toys
• Books
• Games

But there are also many items (such as a dog DNA test kit) that do not belong to any of these sections and are placed on a more general "gift" wall. If you've already insisted on purchasing a two-year-old child, Amazon eliminates guesswork with different gift sections based on the age of the baby or toddler. I've also noticed a space dedicated to Amazon LaunchPad that includes products from startups, such as a gadget designed to improve your posture.

Photo of Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

But it is very clear that this is a paid placement. Take, for example, the giant installation of Roomba which consumes a good amount of space. You tell me that iRobot does not pay a lot for this exhibition?

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Unsurprisingly, Amazon and Alexa's own devices are at the center of the store's concerns. The Echos and Fire tablets have their own presentation boards. Same thing for ring bells and video cameras. And there is a small army of third-party speakers from Sonos, Bose and Ultimate Ears, as well as many Alexa-compatible gadgets such as headphones, Philips Hue lamps, Echobee thermostats and Huawei Honor V10 and 7X smartphones. (These are the only phones sold at the store at the present time, but I could certainly see Amazon turn into other Premium Exclusive handsets.) You will not find a better space to try these products. because they rarely work so well. at your local Best Buy or Target.

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Not to mention the Beats headphones, the only Apple brand product that I found among all 4-star products was the Magic Mouse, which featured on the "Top Selling in NYC" display alongside A Black & Decker vacuum cleaner, small bottles of Gorilla Glue, copies of the Rich Asian boobies book and a kitchen scale.

This randomness can make some parts of 4 stars more chaotic. This is clearly a store designed for occasional navigation and impulse buying, not efficiency. Still, I found it a bit weird to see a Jordan Peterson book and the Echo spot right next to each other on the Most Wished For table.

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That said, I can certainly appreciate the AmazonBasics cable wall (Lightning, USB-C, Aux, etc.) and power adapters. And yes, you can also get affordable affordable 4-star AmazonBasics HDMI cables. For New York residents who need a last-minute cable or car adapter, it's a very handy tool. The challenge will be to buy what you chose without having to buy a bagel slicer or anything else that I almost did.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Just like at Amazon Books, Amazon Prime customers pay the preferential price when they shop at a 4-star hotel. Non-members must settle for the higher price (or sign up for a free premium trial if they want the lowest). Prime is not Amazon's only service on buyers. As I checked to pay for my pair of cheap ErgoFit headphones, the tablet at the payment terminal noted that I was eligible for a free trial of Audible.

To pay, you open the Amazon app on your phone and scan a QR code that displays throughout the store. This brings you to another unique QR code linked to your Amazon payment information. The cashier scans that and you're done.

Amazon 4 Star continues the expansion of the online retail giant; It joins Amazon Books, Amazon Pop-Up mall kiosks and Amazon Go sites, more experimental and without a cashier. I am not sure how often I will return to 4 stars. But it should be good for what the registration front says: you can buy something for yourself or for someone else with at least some the assurance that it is a wise purchase.

Photo of Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge