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.
I partially agree. It is stupid to pay more for no reason. But in my own experience, just because it’s locally owned doesn’t mean they don’t have deals. I wouldn’t pay MSRP for pretty much anything. Most retailers, corporate or mom’n’pop, tend to just go by MSRP. But there are tons of places that are dirt-fuckin-cheap if you actually look around. Especially when it comes to food and daily household goods.
Funnily, in my case the local book stores are all used book stores (well, there’s also the 1 bible store which literally just sells bibles), so they’re incredibly cheap. But you might not find the latest Stephen King there at all if no one has come in to sell/donate one, so it’s still not perfect.
It also only seems stupid when the only local businesses left after a corporate giant pushed everyone else out are some kind of niche specialty or constantly change because they cannot actually compete against prices and/or selection and stay in business.