Shop Local
Friday 21st of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Anne-Marie CI hadn't got anything for my eldest's seventh birthday and there was only a week to go. We'd had to postpone her party, which is the only present she ever really wants, and we'd got her a second hand bike for £15, but I felt I ought to get her something so we went into a local independent department store toy department.
She loves Scooby Doo, so when she asked for a toy Mystery Machine I ummed and ahhed because it was £19.99 but she promised she would play with it lots and I knew how much she loved it, so I added it to a pile of smaller bits and pieces she'd chosen.
On the bus home, I thought I'd just double check the price on Amazon...
£8.60.
Eek. I do like to support local and try to shop local, but almost 60% off the price, and we've not got a huge amount of spare cash. What do you do?
There are some good reasons to be anti-Amazon, but also we all have limited budgets and there are price reductions, and there are price reductions. If it had been £3 less, I wouldn't have had a problem with spending the extra. Even £5 I could have swallowed. But over £11? That's a whole other present we could have bought.
I'd love to say that I stood by my local shopping principles, shouldered the extra £11 as a price well spent in supporting an almost-300 year old department store.
I'd love to say that. But instead I ordered the cheaper Mystery Machine from Amazon and took the more expensive one back where we exchanged it for something else (previously price checked online...)
Sorry independent local store. I do try to support you, and I didn't ask for a refund so still spent the same amount, but at more than double the online price, I just couldn't justify the cost for that particular item.
Do you support your local shops, even though you pay more? Do you always shop local, or do you have a limit as to how much more you'll pay for something just to support locally?
About the author
Anne-Marie C
Curator of chaos, avid consumer of picture books, and procrastinator extraordinaire. Can often be found rambling about books, parenting, books, education, books, and anything else that comes to mind. Feels fortunate to share life with her superheroes: two daughters born in 2007 and 2009.share this page with friends and family
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