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 :)
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