2d ago

Buying local is a much more enjoyable experience

So I wanted a copy of the board game Carcassonne as it's a game I've played with friends before and loved. For things like this I (like many others) would gravitate towards Amazon.

But after some research I found that my local board game cafe sells copies of the game cheaper than anywhere online. Yesterday I popped by, grabbed a copy and had a nice chat with the owner about the game and their favourite expansions. This was a significantly better experience than buying the game online from a soulless corporation, and my money has gone to an great local company rather than a billionaire. Why did we give up the joy of shopping locally and in-person for convenience?

Similarly I was looking out for a black denim jacket in my size. Instead of going to a big clothing retailer I checked out some charity shops, and I found exactly what I wanted for a fraction of the price with the money going towards charity.

Going forward I'm going to avoid Amazon and any big American companies wherever possible. Hopefully others will do the same :)

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Slightly different example but i needed an apple peeler not too long ago for a large batch of apples we received
I went on a search on the internet for a peeler but all the results are these apple peelers with springs and thin painted metal (or even PLASTIC peelers). I remembered as a kid working on an orchard they had these cast iron presses and peelers they had been using for literally a century
Went to an antique mall and scooped up a REAL peeler like these. Supported a local business. Got a TOOL that will last a lifetime
- I swear to you, my first thought was "an Apple peeler? Why would Apple make peelers? Do they have Bluetooth or Wi-Fi?"
- Damn if I seen one of those in an antique store I wouldn't know what in the hell it was lol
- They look like torture devices lol
- Now that's a peeler :D

I find getting stuff from local (or at least, national) businesses leads to far less utter shit.
Amazon might have it for a fiver...But you'll spend an hour working out if it's actually decent, and half the time it shows up as dogshit quality, with no compliance with local safety requirements.
Meanwhile, Argos might be a little more, but if you get something that's actually built to be sold in the UK. An actual product that does what it's supposed to, rather than a seller gambling you can't be arsed to return it.
Lakeland is another example. I could buy some random bit of kitchenware from dropshipper_28, and hope it works, and doesn't poison me...Or, I could go into Lakeland, and be reasonably confident that the one they stock is well regarded, and works.
TK Maxx is an example of the complete opposite: So much utter utter crap there mixed in with the half decent stuff.
Not worth my life sifting through it!
- Oh yeah +1 to Argos and Lakeland. A little bit pricier, but worth it for the superior quality. I love my OXO can opener lol

To be fair that's probably because you were searching for Carcassonne which you can find pretty much everywhere. The problem with local is finding a store that actually sells what you want.
With clothes for example you can look through every shop in a commercial area and still not find what you're looking for if it's not currently in fashion in your country. Second hand shops are very good for this and I have many clothes from the UK and czechia this way. But this only really works for clothes.
- I guess in that case there are usually specialist independent websites. It might not local, but at least it's not Amazon.
- I am sure the little shops can also bring in things if you ask them. But you do have to talk to them though. For example, in small garden centers, they don’t have everything on display or in stock. But they do have their connections, or propagating centers, and they can bring it in for you.
  
  That works well with bookshops too. On the other hand I haven't had much luck with local supermarkets/convenience stores.

And you know one thing that vastly differentiate Amazon from your local game cafe? You can sit there and play, meet new people and even make friends.
- It's a great little shop - tons of games to play, reasonable table charges and some really great cocktails too! I love seeing companies like that thriving.
  
  Same Mouse, same.

Why did we give up the joy of shopping locally and in-person for convenience?
Time and convenience.
Going to a local independent bookshop, or whatever, is almost always a better experience. Going to specialist shops is almost always a better experience. But Amazon offers everything: and order can be done and dusted from your sofa in one minute, and you don't need to bother figuring out who stocks what you want since Amazon has it. And if you have Prime, you'll have it the next day with zero shipping costs.
Sure, it'll probably be counterfeit but... time and convenience.
- I feel like this could be solved by means of a search engine that aggregated local retailers, you have sane defaults and then you can add ones you like and removed ones you don't
- Time and convenience and... local shops were and are largely very disappointing for many types of purchases.
  My first online buy (in 2003, at the age of 17) was a decent wired optical gaming mouse, a Logitech M510, in 2003. The first optical mouse I ever used that wouldn't skip.
  The selection at local computer stores was lacking to say the least, and they also could not give much good advice anyway.

Good on you for supporting a circular economy, my friend. We have already produced more clothes than we need on this planet. There is no need for more.

Going to a physical store, browsing, and chatting up with the clerk is all part of the overall experience that makes shopping enjoyable!
It's a slower task to do that than to order online, but might create a nice memory and you'll be more mindful of the things you buy :)
Thanks for sharing your experience!
- It's a slower task to do that than to order online
  We are living too fast anyway.
  
  Exactly. And honestly that has brought a crap ton of unnecessary problems to our lives.

For future reference Amazon and eBay are full of counterfeit board games, and once reported do nothing about it other than refund you and remove the negative review. I usually go to independent known websites for games, or a store if they have what I want. An alternative to eBay would be boardgamegeek for used games, be careful with new games on eBay showing generic publisher provided imagery

Libraries here in Denmark have a pretty impressive and ever growing range of boardgames, including Carcassonne. I have been very happy using it because you get to try out a lot of games and maybe eventually buy the ones you really can't live without
- Oh that's such a good idea! I haven't seen that over here but I hope it catches on

I mean if you found a local shop that sells cheaper...no shit. Id even accept a nominal percentage bump for having a store. But I'm not buying local at 50% markup for anything.
- That's all too often the case here as well (Hertford/Ware UK).
  It's all bet good and noble shopping local, but not all of us can afford it. Or they don't/ can't/won't stock it.

+1 to that.
It's so much more pleasant (well, when the shop owner know what they're doing). I've almost completely quit using Amazon and only shop online for what I can find a local alternative.
Including for books btw, at least here in France, the law has made it so that new books must be sold at the same price everywhere (including Amazon) and since the experience is so much more pleasant in my local bookshops I see no reason to give my money to Amazon ;)

Yup.
And even if you want to order something online, its super easy to find local or at least European small business alternatives. Im doing some 3D printing project and I need leather straps (Im making pipboy for my phone) - took me like 5-10 minutes to find several local and European small businesses with their own online stores.
As cheap as amazon if not cheaper.
Havent used amazon in 4 years, never will again. Fck Bezos and his ilk.

Also if you want to buy local but don't have a local board game café to go to, https://boardgameprices.co.uk/ is very good (they have mainland shops as well as UK ones). There's also a more mainland centric version but I don't remember it off hand.

You're figuring this out now ? The local thing, I meant
- In the past I'm sure it used to be the case that generally Amazon was the cheapest option for things like books and games. And quite rapidly they came to control more areas of the retail market. For a lot of people I know, Amazon represents the most affordable and convenient option in their minds when shopping for ANY product. But whilst this may be true in certain cases, it's actually not for many others. I think there's some psychology going on which prevents people from wanting to shop elsewhere, or realising that products could be cheaper if they did so. The convenience of fast shipping, the dopamine hit of ordering something and the associated anticipation, and the supposed 'great deals' of the big sales. It blinds people to the fact that local is often cheaper and better.

Why did we give up the joy of shopping locally and in-person for convenience?
Because then I would have to go places and talk to people. Generally I want to avoid that. I can avoid amazon anyways.
- I don't know your situation of course, but I think going to places and talking to people is generally a good thing :) I sometimes dread social interactions, but only by actually interacting with others can I improve.
  
  Obviously it'll be different for a lot of people, especially those who are neurodivergent, but I agree. I'm a very shy person but I think it's good to get out there and talk to people. Even just people who work in stores. You can actually learn to like talking to strangers.

the experience is not even comparable. i see a lot of people buying clothes online without much of a fuss but for me it's difficult to comprehend. like ok you buy without knowing if its your size just because you can send it back and change it? you risk needing send it back and wait days and days just to save a few euros?(and not in all cases) its not even convenient at this point. the thing that keep sites like amazon big is that on some products, especially electronics, their prices are hard to beat for a small business or even a big one that has physical stores. also people dont even bother anymore to go out and see if the product they need is sold by some shops in town, they go straight to amazon or some shit because they automatically assume it will be cheaper and i guess they became addicted to the dopamine of receiving the package you were waiting for. i always tend to cheap out on electronics and the prices of amazon always had an edge over physical store. but since i started buying used or refurbished there is no way i go back. for my chromebook i used mediaworld refurbished and got a good deal. sadly for things like clothes my city lacks in second hands shops so for now im stuck with vinted but its a step at the time i guess. wish we can go back when you used internet just to buy very niche things. (and also learn to buy used more)
- Oh yeah for sure - buying clothes online really isn't fun. I dread to think how much energy and effort is wasted shipping these items back and forth when someone buys something online and then returns it. I think to some extent the modern internet has trained people to leave everything until the last minute and rely on fast shipping. Rather than plan to physically visit a store a few days in advance, things are done online the day beforehand using a vastly inferior system.
  
  I dread to think how much energy and effort is wasted shipping these items back and forth when someone buys something online and then returns it.
  It's worse than that — a lot of returned stuff ends up in landfill because it's not worth the cost of re-stocking it.
  
  You're right, also i think it normalised the will to skip human interactions. Yeah i get sometime the retail workers can be a bit annoying but it's normal and healthy to interact with other human beings and we shouldn't convice ourselfed that we can lock us behind a screen to avoid it.

38 comments