Amazon opens a brick-and-mortar store in Raleigh, and they know what people are buying
Looking for the thrill of Amazon shopping but tired of shopping online? If you’re in Raleigh, you’re in luck.
After choosing the City of Oaks for its newest Amazon 4-star location, Amazon’s retail store is open in Crabtree Valley Mall.
Shoppers can browse best-selling books, gadgets, toys, games and home and kitchen items that Amazon online buyers have rated four stars or above.
Although there are millions of products on Amazon, the store is set up to show the best-selling and highest rated items.
The curated selections of items are accompanied by placards with customer reviews and have digital price tags with real-time prices for products. This includes Amazon Prime member discounts in a way that feels “the same as if you’re shopping online,” said Drew Sheriff, director of Amazon’s physical stores, in an interview with The News & Observer.
There’s a “Trending Around Raleigh” section, a “Most Wished For” section, fall and winter products, and a “stay home and play” collection.
“We’re super excited to be able to open before the end of the year. There’s a great holiday shopping season that’s about to start, so that was one of our intentions [behind opening],” said Sheriff.
The company chose to open a store in Raleigh because of the Triangle’s customer base and retail traffic, he said.
The store is the 27th of its kind in nation and one of six that have opened since September as Amazon spreads its footprint from online to brick and mortar. 4 Star stores have also opened in the last month in Seattle, Houston and Orlando.
“We change the products sometimes every day depending on how the data from the wish list changes,” said Sheriff. “The products can change very regularly depending on what customers are saying they love, what’s trending, what’s new, what are the top-selling items on amazon.com.”
The store carries Amazon products like Alexa devices and customers can visit the store to return items they bought online.
Work hours for employees and store occupancy will be modified for the time being because of the COVID-19 pandemic, to prevent large crowds in the store and allow for social distancing.
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 2:39 PM.
