they ain't gonna like me

Frank Fusco

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12,782
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
I sure won't be the poster boy for our local Chamber of Commerce this year. I have finished all my Christmas shopping and did not spend a dime locally. All my shopping was done via the Internet, about 75% from Amazon.
Not trying to be unkind to our local stores but I was able to find what I wanted, without the hassle of the crowds, without burning gas in the truck and, often, at better prices.
 
Frank, you're in good company. We buy a lot of stuff online for both price and convenience. Most clothing comes from local stores because LOML loves the clearance racks. She gets most items at 75% to 90% off the original price. :thumb:
 
LOML has an "I WILL be done shopping by Thanksgiving" policy in place, so Blank Friday, Local Retail Saturday and Cyber Monday don't play into our shopping program.

We do a mix of online and local shopping and actually went to an Estate Auction on Black Friday. The only thing I was interested was a steel Craftsman machinist tool box full of tools - it went for $150 which was too rich for my blood.

We did make a fairly big purchase at a local hobby shop instead of online, as they have been very helpful with the decision process along the way.

Jim
 
Shipping

People who do not want to shop online often mention shipping costs.

With gas close to $3/gal how far do they think they can drive before their travel costs equal or exceed typical shipping costs??
 
I do a lot of shopping on line... we live too far from anywhere to shop to just run to the store... the local town is just 6 miles away, but the only stores are two drug stores, a dollar store, an off brand grocery, a subway, piazza place, a beer and tobacco store, an auto parts store, two or three gas stations, two hardware stores and a handful of "art galleries" plus 3 or 4 restaurants...
 
I try and patronize as many local places as I can, but a lot of times they don't have the variety or quality I want.

But thats more from an electronics perspective.

I have bought my latest big ww machines locally, primarily because the shipping cost more than to buy it locally.
 
My only comment is: When the local stores are no longer there, you'll know why. This is the reason we no longer have a Woodcraft Store in our area.

Bruce

Bruce, I have owned three retail stores and can empathize. But, my first loyalty is to my pocketbook.
Maybe online is the way of the future. Maybe retail stores will all but vanish one day. I dunno. :dunno:
Nothing I bought is available locally. Even with a Wal-Mart Supercenter, the two big BORGs and several large chain clothing stores, selection seems limited.
Oddly, since the BORGs and WM opened, I find myself buying from the local lumber yard, hardware store, sporting goods and auto parts stores more than before.
Maybe the retail industry is in transition. Again, I dunno :dunno: .
I do know, when I had my clothing store and gun shop, I had to make major adjustments to compete with the large discounters. In short, I stopped competing and gave what they couldn't give.....service. It worked.
 
Well Frank, different opinions make for good horse races.

Consumers are now saying that the only thing that matters is bottom dollar(not just you), but how about when somehting goes wrong and your only option is to speak to someone from a country that cannot speak English in a way you can understand, or who's Tech's have no idea what they are talking about. The stores you mention, with only the TOP TWENTY % in stock are a good example of what happened to all the "MOM and POP" stores.

I have ALWAYS considered service above and beyond a necessity when I'm buying from someone and when I am making product, I want the customer to feel the same way. It makes my pieces more expensive than others, so I'm not here to sell to everyone.

Bruce
 
I don't have any choice but to go out of my hood for most of the stuff I want/need, I try as hard as I can to buy local, but for some stuff I cannot. Food etc I buy as much local as I can, but often the variety and quality of the local stuff is not very good, so I don't buy it.

Being in retail, I do understand what Bruce is saying, and we try very hard to get stuff in that the customer wants, VERY hard, but I also know the vast majority of the Mom & Pop shops around here have been here forever and they don't want to change with the times, they will not bring in new products and will not shift with the shift in local populations. Case in point, there were two local butcher shops that sold retail, they both sold only the cut meat, at that time (20 years ago) the majority of their customers were families, this area still had a lot of families living here, then the road got widened and we lost literally thousands of families up and down our major road, they sold the land to the city and had to buy out side of our area, so they are gone, the new buildings that were built in the area are mostly for one person, or a couple, not for families, they make more money as most young people are not settled and they move every couple of years, and the landlords make more money on them breaking their lease than on then completing the lease, just the way things are. For the butcher shop this meant that there were a LOT fewer families buying uncooked meat, but a bunch of younger single people who wanted to buy a prepared meal, a "Bento". The one shop changed their business, did a minor renovation and added the sinks, cookers etc to make these bentos, they do a lot of lunch business with the local office workers and they stay open later and do a ton of business with single people who live in the area on the way home from work. The second butcher shop did not evolve, they were the longer established business and they were much larger and had been much more successful, they lasted about 5 or 6 years and they are now gone.
The lesson for me is that you have to keep on adapting to the market, you cannot rest on your laurels, many small local businesses do not get this and they go out of business because they have not kept up.

Sorry to ramble on :eek: :D
 
I didn't mean to start a kerfuffle.
Stu nailed it. When small, long established, retailers go out of business after Wal-Mart, or whatever, open in a town the big store is blamed. Really, what happened was the big store met a need the small Mom and Pop store didn't even recognize was there.
One must adapt to the market demands or fade away.
OTOH, when our Wal-Mart supercenter opened lots surrounding it that had stood vacant and wouldn't sell at $50,000.00 suddenly became million dollar properties and we now have a thriving commercial center with dozens of new stores and businesses.
 
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