Hellooo ...

[Abby08]

There's a downside to shopping online. The smaller stores don't get the patrons and will eventually shut down due to lack of business. Lots of the smaller stores have the best things and we can direct our money into local business instead of larger conglomerations and foreign companies.

We'll all be complaining when they are gone. I'm guilty but I'm also going to try to make an effort to find a balance.

There's a local western wear store in town and, my husband buys his boots from them, I went in there a while back just to look around and, the jeans they sell are the ones with the bling on the back pockets and, they look already worn out and, some with the rips and, that dirty look.......ya know? Everything looked like it was designed for 20 year Olds.

The feed store sells clothing too......same thing, designed for 20 year olds, with all the bling.

I've found that most of the smaller stores, sell the same stuff.

Walmart sells clothes but.....no.

[Abby08]

Lockdowns have most certainly contributed to taking business away from the brick and mortar and focusing it more online.

Many people did both in the past but since the lockdowns people have been forced to shop online and will probably continue to do so which will mean the demise of many of the smaller stores. The balance was broken.

Yes, the lockdowns certainly did cause a lot of problems for the retail industry.

I was already shopping online though, for most things, I was even ordering laundry, cleaning, personal care and, certain grocery items online from Costco, I've been buying my pet foods and supplies online from Chewy for 4 years now.

Lockdowns caused people to do even more online shopping.........and, you're right, they'll probably continue doing it.

[Dr. Who]

There's a downside to shopping online. The smaller stores don't get the patrons and will eventually shut down due to lack of business. Lots of the smaller stores have the best things and we can direct our money into local business instead of larger conglomerates and foreign companies.

We'll all be complaining when they are gone. I'm guilty but I'm also going to try to make an effort to find a balance.

Generally speaking, the goods I'm buying online aren't available at our local small shops, just at the chain stores and whether I buy from them online or in the store, doesn't impact their bottom line. It does however, result in some of the stores closing, which means job loss. That bothers me, but not enough to hit the mall.

[Red Lily]

Generally speaking, the goods I'm buying online aren't available at our local small shops, just at the chain stores and whether I buy from them online or in the store, doesn't impact their bottom line. It does however, result in some of the stores closing, which means job loss. That bothers me, but not enough to hit the mall.

I support local stores when I buy household goods online, always, but they aren't the ones who suffer the most either.

[Abby08]

What about ordering online and, picking it up later, they bring it out to your car, no need to even get out.

I tried it once with Walmart, it was during the early months of Covid and, apparently a lot of people were doing it so, they had no available pick up times for that day or, the next.

I ended up just going to another local grocery chain, where they didn't require masks.

[Peter1469]

You and others have transistioned to online shopping rather than going to a brick and mortar store. Pete claimed it was because of the lock downs.


I say it has nothing to do with the lock downs.
It is the new and easy way to shop and buy things.
Brick and mortar shops have been on the way out for a long time.
Easy peasy.

An extraordinary number of small businesses declared bankruptcy since the lockdowns.

This is not a hard concept to grasp.

Small Businesses Are Dying by the Thousands — And No One Is Tracking the Carnage

Big companies are going bankrupt at a record pace, but that’s only part of the carnage. By some accounts, small businesses are disappearing by the thousands amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and the drag on the economy from these failures could be huge.




This wave of silent failures goes uncounted in part because real-time data on small business is notoriously scarce, and because owners of small firms often have no debt, and thus no need for bankruptcy court.




“Probably all you need to do is call the utilities and tell them to turn them off and close your door,” said William Dunkelberg, who runs a monthly survey as chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business. Nevertheless, closures “are going to be well above normal because we’re in a disastrous economic situation,” Dunkelberg said.




Yelp Inc., the online reviewer, has data showing more than 80,000 permanently shuttered from March 1 to July 25. About 60,000 were local businesses, or firms with fewer than five locations. About 800 small businesses did indeed file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy from mid-February to July 31, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the trade group expects the 2020 total could be up 36% from last year.





Business Busts

Restaurant industry leads with most local business closures

Yelp Inc.
Data from March 1 to July 25



While the businesses are small individually, the collective impact of their failures could be substantial. Firms with fewer than 500 employees account for about 44% of U.S. economic activity, according to a U.S. Small Business Administration report, and they employ almost half of all American workers.

Justine Bacon permanently shut her Yoga Brain studio in Philadelphia after deciding it was too dangerous to hold indoor classes because of the pandemic. Bacon didn’t file for bankruptcy, she just simply closed up shop and went out of business on June 30.

[Abby08]

When people were FORCED to do most shopping online, is what really did damage to the small business owners.

Before that, I really don't think the amount of online shopping made much difference.

I started online shopping way back when I still had dial up internet.

Along the way, it became more of a necessity than a convenience, when we moved 2-3 hours from towns large enough to have what we needed.

[Cotton1]

I'm having a delivery problem on a cord I ordered for a portable DVD. Usually things ship sooner than expected but this was due May 7

[Abby08]

I'm having a delivery problem on a cord I ordered for a portable DVD. Usually things ship sooner than expected but this was due May 7

Every time I order something there's usually a notice, "due to Covid-19, delivery may take longer than expected ".

They blame everything on covid, now.

[Cotton1]

Every time I order something there's usually a notice, "due to Covid-19, delivery may take longer than expected ".

They blame everything on covid, now.

I think that is what the problem is.