Brick and Mortar

[Thumper]

On the scale of BMR, this is pretty weak, but....
I got a fairly new bed from my neighbor as we're going to upgrade The Kid's room. Only thing, it needs a frame. No biggie. Got online and saw all kinds of frames, many I could order and have delivered in days. Saw that Wallmart carries a couple models in stock. So, on my way home Wed, I stopped by my local Wally World and searched for bed frames. Finally, I asked for help, the first associate had no idea but went to ask her friend. The friend led me to an area I had already been and said, "Well, they're usually here."

Called Mrs. T. I said can you get on the web and see if our local Home Depot carries bed frames in store? It took a few minutes, she had to search for a store, make it her "home store," then search for bed frames. "Yes," she said, "it shows that they carry a couple models in stock. So back to HD I go and search around for quite a long time. Finally, a couple of associates were milling around, I asked if you could point me to bed frames. "We don't carry bed frames." Well I just called my wife, she picked this store and looked online at a couple models that are supposedly carried in stock at this store. "Well, let me look it up......Nope."

So I drove home having wasted over an hour, got online, and ordered one from Amazon Prime. It'll be on my front porch today or tomorrow. This is but one single example amongst many, but why would I ever need (subject myself) to driving to a store, wandering around helplessly, and then repeating as I cannot find what I'm looking for? Why are people still building stores?

[SciFi Chick]

Amen. Living out in the middle of nowhere, Amazon Prime has become my lifeline for all sorts of things! But once in awhile, I don't want to wait that day or two for it to get delivered, and then I subject myself to what you just went through. LOL.

[SciFiFisher]

I thought I was the only one! It has happened to me more than once. I go looking for something that *should* be in the store and it is not available. Sadly, the brick and mortar stores probably don't even realize this is one of the major reasons they are losing to the online marketplace.

[Thumper]

I use Amazon Prime all the time, though I'm not a huge fan. It's a more efficient use of my time and money. I liked (and miss) when I would go into a store, such as our local Mom and Pop hardware store. The guy would greet me at the door and take me to what I needed, make suggestions, answer questions etc.

But if I have a good idea of what I want, a few clicks and I'm looking at way more choices and price points than I'd ever get even racing around to 3-4 stores. Make my decision and ba-da bing, it's on it's way. I realize a store can't stock everything, especially multiple choices of the same product. Gets me wondering as to what and where stores will be like in 10 years.

But for now, if they don't work hard to offer something, some service I can't easily get on the web, what's the point?

[Swift]

I have a slightly different complaint about brick and mortar stores, particularly specialized ones. I'll pick on drug stores as an example.

Most of the chain drugstores (and that's pretty much all there is anymore) are more and more becoming general stores. So you can go into your local CVS or Rite Aid or Wallgreens and get milk and cereal, and a charger for your phone, and wrapping paper, and 10W30 oil, etc., etc. To make room for that, they have cut back on the shelf space for the kinds of things that only drugstores carry.

For example, my wife uses non-sterile 4x4s all the time (if anyone wants to know why, I will explain, but I suspect you don't want to know). But it is virtually impossible to find them in any drugstore. If you are lucky, you'll find a few sterile 4x4s, but even those are becoming hard to find (and they cost many times more).

What's the point of having a drugstore if they essentially carry the same things the typical grocery store carries; I'd just as soon go to the grocery store.

[geonuc]

^^^^ That's a good point, although my pharmacy is of the independent variety. Much more like a traditional drugstore. They even had a soda fountain until just a few years back.

I miss going to the mall. Used to be, I'd spend a couple of hours hitting up a dozen shops and doing some people-watching. Now, they're like those malls you see in the zombie movies.

[SciFi Chick]

Gets me wondering as to what and where stores will be like in 10 years.

Tea. Earl Grey.

[geonuc]

Gets me wondering as to what and where stores will be like in 10 years.

Tea. Earl Grey.

That would be awesome.

[SciFi Chick]

Gets me wondering as to what and where stores will be like in 10 years.

Tea. Earl Grey.

That would be awesome.

I know. It's such a GOOD fantasy.

[SciFiFisher]

3D printers are one step closer to the matter fabricator's of SF.

[vendic]

Molten plastic tea. Yum!

[Swift]

Molten plastic tea. Yum!

You could make the cup. The tea... not so much.

[Rommie]

Stuff like this makes me feel like I take my centralized city for granted. There are little stores for everything, but the trick is knowing where they are and finding them open!

Amazon doesn't really exist here though, just in the UK and Germany, so I wonder if that's also a big difference. There is a next day delivery competitor, but I only really use them for when I'm planning a party it turns out.