Online Buying vs Brick & Mortar.

[scootr]

Online buying has hurt brick and mortar stores for a decade or more now. It's been years since I entered the Super Walmart in town, or the Home Depot or the tire store or many others. I've bought all the things I used to run to town for online. It's more convenient. I can shop at all hours of the day or night and stuff arrives at the house. Case in point, yesterday I bought an upgraded sway bar and shocks for my car online.
A pair of shorts and a shirt for an upcoming trip online. A 10 pound roll of mig welding wire and 2 pounds of dog biscuits online. A tire grooving tool for my friend and a solar driveway alarm for the same old friend.
Nowadays Seems I go to the store for fun more than the things I need.

 

[2manyrocks]

About every small town used to have a courthouse square with the county court and county officials in the courthouse surrounded by locally owned department clothing stores, five and dime stores, hardware stores, dry cleaners, banks, insurance agencies, car dealerships, realtors, and drug stores. There weren't any fast food chains in my hometown. There was a soda fountain shop in each of the local drug stores. A couple of locally owned places to eat.

The chain stores underpriced the local retail merchants, and they have pretty much been gone for 30 years with a few exceptions. The financial wealth that used to stay in the local community has been sucked out to distant corporate HQs.

Whether brick and mortars will continue remains to be seen. Obviously, they are hedging their bets both ways because Home Depot has on-line ordering and a substantial investment in brick and mortar locations. I don't think UPS will start delivering 2x4s and bags of cement to my house at a price I can afford.

 

[MossRoad]

About the only stores we go to anymore are grocery and Menards.

Once in a while we'll head to the outlet mall to get clothes and shoes. I still like to try things on before buying and so does my wife.

I don't count flea markets or antique stores. That's just for fun.

 

[Paddy]

It used to be a brick and mortar store came with some level of expertise. Now it's just kids that don't know anything. Why pay higher price?

NAPA had my Kubota air filter for $69, Amazon had it for $23

we do still have a few old hardware type stores that have 6-7 employees manning the store, I'd bet their average age is 55 and know their stuff

 

[2manyrocks]

We have one surviving hardware store passed down from the grandparents to the parents to the grandchildren, and one surviving lumber company that may or may not make it through the present generation.

 

[Blue Mule]

If I can save substantial money, I order online. If prices are even remotely close to being similar, I shop locally at a store because 1) I like supporting the local economy and 2) It's easier to return the item if I have a problem with it.

The one exception is hardware. We have an ACE branded hardware store in town. Every thing in that store is priced higher than a cat's back. It's ridiculous. But, sometimes when it comes to hardware you've just got to have it NOW and so sometimes I bite the bullet and shop in there so I can get the job done today.

 

[2manyrocks]

Used to have a Radio Shack and a Sears ordering outlet. They didn't have merchandise in the store, but you could go in and order to pickup when it came in. I can't remember when we got the last big Sears catalog, but I think it was in the 1980s?

edit: 1993. Before Folding 30 Years Ago, the Sears Catalog Sold Some Surprising Products

 

[ddbackhoe]

If I can save substantial money, I order online. If prices are even remotely close to being similar, I shop locally at a store because 1) I like supporting the local economy and 2) It's easier to return the item if I have a problem with it.

The one exception is hardware. We have an ACE branded hardware store in town. Every thing in that store is priced higher than a cat's back. It's ridiculous. But, sometimes when it comes to hardware you've just got to have it NOW and so sometimes I bite the bullet and shop in there so I can get the job done today.

The local Ace was bought by a place out of NJ during covid. Price changes took effect immediately. Last thing I was going to buy there rang up higher than the shelf sticker. I was told whatever the computer ings up is right, the sticker is wrong. I left the item and wont be back. It can wait until the UPS, Amazon or Fedex truck comes by.

 

[ddbackhoe]

It used to be a brick and mortar store came with some level of expertise. Now it's just kids that don't know anything. Why pay higher price?

retail has made their own bed. Everything self serve, even the cash register. Why would I want to stand in line to help myself?

 

[Hay Dude]

I guess it depends on what I’m buying. If its a standard item I am used to buying, like a tube of grease, I am 50/50 online or walking into a store.
If it’s a chainsaw, I’m going to a walk in dealer 100% so I can pick it up, handle it, run it, make sure I like the way it operates.

 

[2manyrocks]

When all the local brick and mortars die off, do you think the only thing left will be the internet version of the company store in a company town?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

We have one surviving hardware store passed down from the grandparents to the parents to the grandchildren, and one surviving lumber company that may or may not make it through the present generation.

There is still one '50s style hardware store in town that stocks all the weird nuts and bolts you can never find anywhere else. I go to stores for paint, hardware, groceries, seed and feed. I have to buy my size 15EEE shoes online because nobody stocks them. As an aside, I recommend Fitville for wide shoes. I only go to town once a week, so ordering online is more convenient for most stuff. A small town won't have it in stock anyway.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I don't count flea markets or antique stores. That's just for fun.

Junk stores can be great. My wife and I picked up a complete 12 place setting of Noritake china, including serving dishes, for $20 at the men's shelter thrift store not long ago. That's about $900 worth of dishes online. I also have 17 lbs. of silver I picked up for $70 at Salvation Army. They thought it was plate because it wasn't marked Sterling. It was coin silver, dating from the time when it was cheaper to melt down silver coins than buy silver ingots.

 

[Yander]

There is still one '50s style hardware store in town that stocks all the weird nuts and bolts you can never find anywhere else. I go to stores for paint, hardware, groceries, seed and feed. I have to buy my size 15EEE shoes online because nobody stocks them. As an aside, I recommend Fitville for wide shoes. I only go to town once a week, so ordering online is more convenient for most stuff. A small town won't have it in stock anyway.

It's fitting that you live in Oregon....

 

[ultrarunner]

One problem with online is the pirates that follow delivery trucks and steal right from your porch…

If I order it goes to work address because too vulnerable sitting on a porch…

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I needed 4 new tires for my 3/4 ton truck a few weeks ago and shopped around for prices , nobody local even came close to what i could get them for from ebay, saved myself over $200 on a set of 4.

 

[ultrarunner]

Are you self installing?

There was a time when tires came with complimentary installation, bubble balance and flat repair…

Now these are all line item charges so why not shop best price?

 

[oosik]

I will search & compare products on-line. Purchases, most often, will be from a local outlet.

I purchase all my tires locally from Les Schwab. Very pleased with the way they operate.

 

[EddieWalker]

As a Contractor, I'm in Lowes or Home Depot almost every day. As a Farmer, I'm in Atwoods once a week. I also hit Walmart once a week for stuff my wife didn't get when she went shopping. A big part of my life is buying things that I need.

We've been dealing with leaks in our13 year old LG front loading Washing Machine for a couple years now. I take it apart, I find the leak, I order it online and it gets here in a day or two. Then a few months later, it starts to leak somewhere else and I do it all over again. We decided last week that it was time to buy a new Washer.

Looking at reviews and deciding what we wanted, we decided on a 5.5 cubic foot LG top loader that was on sale at Lowes for $798. They didn't have any in stock at any of the stores in our area, but the website said they would deliver it for free on Monday. I searched other stores and nobody has it in stock. Delivery was anywhere from the end of the month, to several weeks. Some included delivery, others had fee in store pick up, and Sears wanted almost $300 more for delivery. I didn't even know Sears was still in business.

They tried sneaking in a $70 set of stainless steel hoses to the order, but I deleted it. We got a test right after I paid for it online that said it would be here between 8am and noon today. I can see where the truck is by tracking it, and right now, we're listed as two stops away. It's coming from the Dallas area, about 80 miles away.

We're kind of annoyed that we couldn't go to Lowes and pick it up yesterday. We cleaned up the Laundry Room, but now we're just waiting for it to get here. I guess it's cheaper and easier for Lowes to use a warehouse to deliver appliances from then to keep them in stock? And it's cheaper to have a truck drive all over the state delivering appliances then it is to keep them in stock? I don't get it, but I think this is the future of appliance buying.

 

[Torvy]

Even out here away from the city, if I order from Amazon, the nice FedEx lady or nice USPS lady brings it to me tomorrow (often).

The problem with the small local stores is that they often don't want to step into the 20th century (not a typo). Nothing stopping them from putting up a website where I can see if they have what I need without driving into town, wandering around the store or asking a kid that knows nothing to help.

That being said, if it is something we know is carried at the local hardware store, we will typically get it there (unless price is too far off). Even on Amazon, we find it there and then seek out the manufacturer and try to buy directly if possible.