I never understood why it’s looked down upon to purchase goods from online retailers and big department stores, especially if it’s significantly cheaper. Local businesses up charge their goods like crazy to stay afloat, but I’m not a rich man. Why in the world should I pay more from my own pocket to help support your local business?

If you own a bookstore, coffee shop (and sell an $8 cold brew because it’s “organic and home made”), record store, clothing store (selling name brands) and you decide to up charge because you need to stay afloat, I am 100% without shame going to find the best price, and if it’s Amazon, then praise Amazon. Your business can go out of business for all I care. Owning a local business for the sake of having a local business when there are department stores and online retailers selling for nearly half of the price you’re selling, that is an incredibly stupid investment.

Bookstores especially are the absolute worst. I’m not paying 39.99 full cover price of the latest Stephen King book at your local business when Amazon is selling it for 18.99.

  • SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    2 months ago

    I am all in favour of being frugal and shopping by price, but you are missing some of the value proposition when you talk about local stores.

    In theory, what you are getting when you buy from a local store is the entire brick and mortar experience. This includes a knowledgable sales person who can talk to you and answer a bunch of questions and give you perspective, maybe even an expert opinion. You get hands on service for things like wrapping or solving problems or putting stuff on hold. If it’s a bookstore, you get to browse and pull things off the shelf and look through them and touch the books . If it is a clothing store, you get to try things on.

    Go ahead and shop online, but at some point, you will run into a wall where having an actual physical experience, with all of the building overhead and staffing, is really what you needed, but it doesn’t exist anymore because everybody bought from Jeff Bezos.

    So part of the value proposition is a bit like tax. You invest in your community so that your community doesn’t suck. You get value out of it in that you get to live in a place that sucks less than a place that was sucked dry by Walmart.