Amazon Opens New 4-star Concept Store In South Lake Union

SEATTLE, WA — Amazon's newest venture into physical retail opened in Seattle on Thursday. The 4-star store along Westlake Avenue sells only items that are highly rated on Amazon.com, including products that people in the Seattle area especially like.

The 4-star store joins two other Amazon physical stores concepts — Amazon Go and Amazon Books — with locations in Puget Sound. Three other 4-star stores have opened since late 2018 in Manhattan, Denver, and Berkeley, Calif.

"Our stores are highly-curated and a direct reflection of our customers — what they’re buying and what they’re loving. Throughout the store there are features like 'Trending Around Seattle,' 'Most-Wished-For,' 'Go Out and Play,' and 'Upgrade Your Commute' along with customer review cards with quotes from actual customer reviews to make it easy and fun for customers to discover great products they’ll love," Amazon described in a press release.

Amazon spokeswoman Jeanine Takala said that the idea for the 4-star concept grew out of Amazon Books, which features a limited selection of titles that are best-sellers or otherwise highly rated.

"As we were opening up those, we began hearing from customers asking, 'When are you going to do for more for other categories and products,'" Takala said.

Seattle has been a sort of petri dish for Amazon's physical stores. The first public Amazon Go store opened here in 2018. There are now 15 of those in Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, plus three more under construction. The first Amazon Books store opened in Seattle at University Village in 2015, and that concept has since expanded to 19 locations in 10 states and Washington, DC.

One type of physical store without a Seattle location is Presented By Amazon. Those stores are located in large shopping malls in California, Illinois, and Las Vegas.

The South Lake Union 4-star store is located at 2101 Westlake Ave. The location was chosen for the range of foot traffic the area gets, from tourists to Amazon employees, Takala said.