Here’s my rant du jour. Let’s talk about the online community and local shops. Clearly there is a vast difference in pricing available online vs. buying from a local shop. Local shops have quite the overhead to think about (building costs, etc.) whereas an online business can get by with just having room for all their storage and perhaps some staff members (or a lot of them if you are Amazon).
While I try to buy stuff at the local shops, I can’t bring myself to doing it in some cases. If an items is a few bucks more, no worries. But when you see a vast increase on the price, you have to wonder how you can justify spending it.
Let’s talk about comic books for a moment. I was taking a look at some back issues of X-Men in the store yesterday and I was finding prices ranging from $3-$5. Now, I (like every other collector) would love to sell my comics at prices like these but in reality, with Ebay, it just can’t happen usually. I managed to snag a big lot of X-Men comics back near Christmas which came out to around $1 an issue. So really, what would entice me to spend upwards of $2-$4 extra on a comic book? I understand the concept of supporting a local business but I’m wondering if there is something they can change in their operations to match what online competitors can offer.
In the end, I think retail will be vastly changing in the future (if it hasn’t already). I know that if I lived up North still, I wouldn’t even bother with big trips down South. I would just order everything on-line and take advantage of any free shipping deals I could find.
So unfortunately, while I would like to support the local community, I realize that there is a limit to my generosity and paying upwards of 30% extra for an item is nowhere near my limit.
How do others feel about this? I think it partly comes down to fiscal ability (how much money do you actually have to spend?) vs. community support (would you rather see a local shop rather than a giant conglomerate come into town?) but at what point do you feel that you can’t justify NOT going to the big name retailers or online to purchase things?
iplaying: Burning Wheels – The Trews – No Time For Later