Amazon 4-Star

[Pete]

Amazon to bring brick-and-mortar store to OKC

Amazon is planning to open its first 4-Star store in Oklahoma at Classen Curve.

From the Amazon website:

“Amazon 4-star is a store designed to help customers discover products they will love. It’s a physical store that carries a highly curated selection of products from the top categories across amazon.com including devices, consumer electronics, toys, games, books, kitchen, home, and more. Every product in the store is rated 4 stars and above by our customers, a top seller, or new and trending on amazon.com.

Our team of curators looks at pre-orders, sales trends, customer reviews and ratings, customer wish lists, and what amazon.com editorial teams have curated online to select only the most-loved amazon.com products for our store. Our assortment will also change as our curators respond to customer feedback, keep up with emerging trends, and experiment with new categories.”

The stores also allow for pickup and returns for items purchased through the Amazon website.

There are currently 32 Amazon 4-Star locations; the closest is in Frisco, Tx.

The Oklahoma City store at Classen Curve will take the space formerly occupied by On a Whim near Upper Crust restaurant.

Since Columbus, Ohio-based Washington Prime purchased Classen Curve from Chesapeake Energy in 2014, they have added a host of new tenants including Sur la Table, Tecovas, Warby Parker, Bonobos, B.C. Clark, The Boardroom, Athelta, Evereve, Soft Surroundings, Restore, Drybar, Lovesac, Kendra Scott, Rye 51, Mizzen & Main, Clean Juice, and Bassett Furniture.

[Edmond Hausfrau]

Who is the target demographic for this? People without Amazon accounts? People without internet? People who hate home delivery? I'm sure it will do great, just seems like brick and mortar makes more sense for stores without a massive online monopoly.

[Plutonic Panda]

I will likely use this store a lot when I’m in town. As I’ve said before, I can definitely see the appeal of online shopping especially for items you are familiar with or speciality items, but I like shopping in store and seeing what I’m actually buying.

[Pete]

I think this store will be fascinating.

Will be fun to see a wide variety of interesting items. I'm sure they do a great job of picking out new and cool things to display.

The stores are very popular in their current markets.


By the way, we need to finally dispel the "Tulsa gets everything first" myth. OKC has landed a ton of retailers recently, before Tulsa and many are exclusive to the state. Here is a running list:

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.p...943#post780943

[MikeLucky]

I can't wait to see what this store has because it'll be a glimpse into what Okies are buying online. Lol. Might be some interesting stuff in there that everyone in the room will wonder "who is buying THAT around here?"

[progressiveboy]

I think this store will be fascinating.

Will be fun to see a wide variety of interesting items. I'm sure they do a great job of picking out new and cool things to display.

The stores are very popular in their current markets.


By the way, we need to finally dispel the "Tulsa gets everything first" myth. OKC has landed a ton of retailers recently, before Tulsa and many are exclusive to the state. Here is a running list:

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.p...943#post780943

The store in Frisco located in Stonebriar Mall is fun to go in and look at what items are popular. I am sure Amazon has the brick and mortar thing down quite well. This is a good catch for OKC!

[Brett]

How is parking availability at Classen Curve? I have a feeling that the new Amazon brick and mortar will be super popular and people will have to walk a good distance to the new store.

[TheTravellers]

How is parking availability at Classen Curve? I have a feeling that the new Amazon brick and mortar will be super popular and people will have to walk a good distance to the new store.

The horror! The horror!

[Anonymous.]

I have been to the Amazon 4Star in Scottsdale, and it was awesome. They had some cool package deals on items in there, that was not available online.

[shawnw]

So kind of a modern day "Sharper Image" except probably more affordable

[jedicurt]

i love these stores, because i am in the amazon ecosystem for home automation, and it's so nice to be able to go in and see products first hand that i know support that system. i am so happy and excited for this

[soonerguru]

This seems like a really cool retail experience.

[Midtowner]

So kind of a modern day "Sharper Image" except probably more affordable

I worked at The Sharper Image for about a year. It was a cool retail experience, but the products were WAAAY overpriced. Especially anything store-brand.

[Harbinger]

Their top seller is the Wikipedia printed edition.

[MikeLucky]

We've now come full circle.... "I can't wait to go to the Amazon brick and mortar store. You can actually go in and see and touch the products and take them home immediately!" lol We humans are a funny species.

[barrettd]

We've now come full circle.... "I can't wait to go to the Amazon brick and mortar store. You can actually go in and see and touch the products and take them home immediately!" lol We humans are a funny species.

I'll definitely stop by and check it out, but I'm not sure it will be an improvement over their online shop enough for me to visit regularly. I can also already return pretty much anything to the UPS store without boxing it up or anything, so I'm not entirely sure what this store will have to offer me. If there are better prices in the B&M store, that might be an incentive for me, personally. We'll see.

[MikeLucky]

Well, if their analytics and data are correct and this is done properly, the store will have mostly things that are most often bought by people here in OKC. So, by definition it should have stuff you would be buying anyway. We'll see how it is executed.

Also, FYI, you can do Amazon returns at Whole Foods as well since they are essentially an Amazon grocery store. I like it because you get instant refunds on the returns.

[barrettd]

Well, if their analytics and data are correct and this is done properly, the store will have mostly things that are most often bought by people here in OKC. So, by definition it should have stuff you would be buying anyway. We'll see how it is executed.

Also, FYI, you can do Amazon returns at Whole Foods as well since they are essentially an Amazon grocery store. I like it because you get instant refunds on the returns.

I'm certainly going to check it out, don't get me wrong. The returns I do at UPS I get refunds pretty quickly. Not instantly, though. I should check that out next time I have a return.

[MikeLucky]

I'm certainly going to check it out, don't get me wrong. The returns I do at UPS I get refunds pretty quickly. Not instantly, though. I should check that out next time I have a return.

Last return I did, the refund was pending in my account before I had returned to my car in the parking lot. lol. I assume it's because since Whole Foods is owned by Amazon you are returning it directly back to them. They have a separate counter area just for returns and Amazon customer service.

[Jersey Boss]

I'll definitely stop by and check it out, but I'm not sure it will be an improvement over their online shop enough for me to visit regularly. I can also already return pretty much anything to the UPS store without boxing it up or anything, so I'm not entirely sure what this store will have to offer me. If there are better prices in the B&M store, that might be an incentive for me, personally. We'll see.

One improvement is not having your order swiped from your porch.

[sooner88]

One improvement is not having your order swiped from your porch.

You can also have your orders delivered to the Amazon lockers at Whole Foods (and I'm sure others).

[mugofbeer]

Amazon is going to open it's first Denver area Amazon Fresh Grocery store near where l live. It will differ from Whole Foods in that along with WF brand organic products, it will carry name-brand national product like most grocer's. It will also feature automated checkout using their app and tie in with Alexa. They also offer free same-day delivery for Prime members.

I only bring this up because l am fortunate to live in an area literally overrun with diverse grocery companies......something like 15 stores within a 3 mile radius.

OKC has a shortage of decent grocers, perhaps they could petition Amazon for an expanding company and fill some of those empty storefronts?

[Edmond Hausfrau]

You can also have your orders delivered to the Amazon lockers at Whole Foods (and I'm sure others).

Amazon lockers at Trader Joe's, also convenient. And you can sign up for Amazon to put packages in your garage if theft has been an issue. They will pretty much place a package in your fridge if you ask nicely enough.

[Edmond Hausfrau]

I'm certainly going to check it out, don't get me wrong. The returns I do at UPS I get refunds pretty quickly. Not instantly, though. I should check that out next time I have a return.

The UPS near me does instant refunds with a QR code, and you don't even have to package it, they do it all. I would have never survived in previous generations of having to physically go to the post office for mail, shipping, etc.

[barrettd]

The UPS near me does instant refunds with a QR code, and you don't even have to package it, they do it all. I would have never survived in previous generations of having to physically go to the post office for mail, shipping, etc.

Yeah, that's the way I do returns, too. The refund does happen quickly, not sure about instant, but definitely within a few hours. Sometimes longer/shorter. I don't shop much at Classen Curve or that area, really, so it won't replace the UPS store for returns, I don't think. I do a lot of Amazon shopping, though, so I'm curious to see how this turns out.