Do you miss the days when you could buy something in a store?

OneEyedDiva said:
I'm of the belief that almost all new merchandise is not made as well as things we purchased years ago. One good thing about purchasing from Amazon is that most items can easily be returned. Doug, do you read the reviews before you purchase an item? To answer your question, no I don't miss buying from stores, because I still do in some cases plus there's not much I need in the way of housewares and decorative items.
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There's a documentary on YouTube called 'The Lightbulb Conspiracy' that really explains it all.
 

TeePee said:
If I have someone with me, I enjoy going into stores so I can see the product before buying it. Usually, I'm by myself so most of my purchases are made online except groceries and my prescriptions.
Actually, I prefer shopping by myself because I hate waiting around on people. When I shop, I'm usually on a mission and get what I want and leave.
The reason I don't like to shop by myself, is I've been accosted two different times in a grocery store and a CVS parking lot by people trying to get money from me.
Years ago, I had a friend in Miami that was accosted by someone wanting money. When she reached into her purse to get money out, they shot and killed her. I guess they thought when she was reaching in her purse, she was reaching for a weapon.
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Few years back, Huzz’s SIL came out of a store and a gal came up to her and shoved a card at her that said something like “I am a deaf mute who needs money. Please help!” Welp it had been on the news that it was a scam so SIL shoves the card back at the woman and says “sorry but I can’t read!” and walked away. As she got closer to her car, another shopper who’d seen the whole thing smiled at her and said “You were smart not to give her money; it’s a scam.” SIL said “I know. And I actually can read.” Other shopper grinned and said “I figured you can. Well played.”
 
Online shopping is now a great benefit for me. It's also true I wish I could support local businesses, but that's not very feasible these days. Also, I don't need very much of anything really anymore.

I've never been addicted to acquisition; don't need closets full of shoes and clothes to feel good.
Amazon is great for returns and luckily, I've had only a few.
 
RadishRose said:
I've never been addicted to acquisition; don't need closets full of shoes and clothes to feel good.
Amazon is great for returns and luckily, I've had only a few.
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I’m the same. I do prefer shopping in stores and actually looking the item over before I buy but it seems the stock in most stores is very limited and then you have to wait for a back-order. I use Amazon for smaller items and truthfully I haven’t have much luck with buying clothing so I stopped that. New way of living huh?
 
I can still buy most things in shops, occasionally there might be something I can't find locally and then I will go online.

I bought more online when I was working as it was convenient and I didn't have so much time to shop around. I prefer buying from shops because you can see exactly what you are buying. I know there are lots of areas now where they have few shops left, partly because of the internet but also because of high costs of leasing a bricks and mortar shop. Fortunately, we live in an area which has everything we need 🤞:)
 

Do you miss the days when you could buy something in a store?​

I will admit that in the past I was a recreational shopper. As a result Im pretty much full up.
Theres really not much that I want. Or need. The urge still strikes sometimes though. :D

I would like to buy more instore. Immediate gratification and all that. But most times what I want is not there.
I hate wandering and wasting my time.

Im tall and I prefer certain colors and styles. Shopping in stores for clothes has always been a PIA.
And on the odd chance I do find something they never have my size. And even if they do its not "my" size.
Its faster to find things online. But what you get doesnt always match the picture. I miss being able to examine things instore.
My trouble is I rarely find anything to examine. Truthfully I have better luck at Goodwill etc.



RadishRose said:
This makes me wonder if in the future, shops will just become what we used to call ''catalogue showrooms'', with samples of each item to see and touch, THEN, the order goes in for home delivery.
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I would go for that if all sizes were available and you could try things on.
 
We don't shop online except me with online art courses. Oh, and we do order books online from Chapters if they are not physically available in the stores themselves. If we need something, we have enough stores and malls to buy whatever we need.
 
I was fortunate to live when big downtown department stores and other downtown retail establishments still thrived. For a boy living in a remote logging camp the thrill of seeing and shopping in lavishly decorated stores at Christmas was almost too exciting to endure. Sure, we got the Sears and Wards catalogs but the reality of being physically surrounded by the real items was overwhelming. I only got to go to the big cities twice a year. I guess that's why shopping on line is a nothing burger for me today. I want to touch stuff.
 
seadoug said:
So, I had a shower caddy that I purchased from Bed, Bath & Beyond many years ago. It was great quality but was getting a bit worn out. I went on Amazon and purchased a shower caddy that looked similar. When I picked it up today I thought the box was very small. Of course, it had to be assembled. Anything displayed in Bed, Bath & Beyond was assembled.

I put it together and it's in the shower, but it seems flimsy. I miss the days when I could actually check things like this out in a store and not have to guess if they would work. First World problems, I know but it is still annoying.
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I buy most everything online these days. From groceries to clothes, to my beloved music. I have a corner store near me that I visit once in a while, and that's the only store I go to today. Heck, I even have a hairdresser come to my home now.

But that doesn't mean some things haven't been lost along the way. Human contact is important o our well being, and it was cool to bump into an old friend, get a recommendation from the person behind the counter, and of course a little exercise.
 
I live in an upscale urban retail district with plenty of stores I can walk to. Given it is the world center for much high tech, Santa Clara County is one of the richest large urban areas in the world. So about every retail corporation has stores here within an extremely competitive environment.

For example Home Depot, Staples, Walgreens are just a few blocks and much more. I still buy all my food directly from a wide choice of supermarkets within just a 5 mile drive. Being a 66 inch thin male, meant I always had some of the most limited clothing choices at stores with worst color/size choices since retail clothing store buyers tended to hate small people.

Not ever owning a home, renting a 900 sq- ft condo, means decades ago I ran out of convenient space to put retail junk, so was never shopping oriented that tends to bore me. As an old photographer, long before the Internet rose, I was mail order purchasing gear from B&H in NYC.

So using Amazon was natural. As a tech person, I have little issue carefully evaluating most items I buy online such that my return rate is very low. Even clothing. Most products I purchase are electronic tech or outdoor sports products.

Yesterday picked up 3 such items from an Amazon locker.
 

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