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.
This whole equation is very complicated. Price is not always king, even for a cheapskate like myself.
Sometimes I buy a few smaller things from my neighborhood hardware store because it saves me time over going to the big box store. Time is money too. 30 minutes to save $1 is not worth it. If I need a lot of stuff, I will only buy from a big box store and save a lot over my local hardware store. If the project is big enough I may even price shop between the big box stores. The vast majority of my dollars go to the retailer with the lower markup.
But. Once I bought a hacksaw at Walmart. I try pretty hard not to buy stuff from Walmart but when it is Sunday night at 8pm and I want my toilet to work on Monday morning, there are not many choices at all for where to buy a hacksaw. So wally world won because of their hours.
But in general, I agree. Paying a lot more just to buy local is not sustainable for most people.