Supporting Our Local Shops and Stores

This aggravated me a bit. The website for Newsnet Five featured a story about shopping: how to use the local stores to find exactly what you want and then go online and buy the items elsewhere. Even shoes, the article exclaims, can be tried on locally so you know exactly what you want, and then you can take your business to the Internet and save money.

First of all, most of us have limited disposable income. I hear that. But I can't help but think that taking our support away from local stores hurts our economy and therefore affects our pocketbooks anyway. Secondly, there are shipping costs to consider so how much are you really saving by buying it on line? Thirdly....okay I guess you see where I am coming from without beating the drum too loudly.

The article talks is about Angie Lau the consumer reporter for Channel Five. I don't have a gripe with her when she is saving us money locally. I just don't see encouraging people to buy somewhere else. Am I wrong? Is there such a huge mark up in a storefront operation that enables you to truly save enough to overcome shipping costs? I checked on line, picked a pair of shoes from the Steve Madden website (example used by the 'consumer savings' article). The shoe was priced on line at $79.00. It costs (according to their website) $14.95 to ship one pair of shoes. I called Nordstrom and they said $82.00 is the price for the same shoe.

Do the math. You can read about her (Angie Lau's) 'discoveries' and 'suggestions here. Peace Out - 3C