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For a lot of products being able to touch the thing makes a huge difference. Most obvious is clothes. In a store you can feel the weight of the fabric, see the

For a lot of products being able to touch the thing makes a huge difference. Most obvious is clothes. In a store you can feel the weight of the fabric, see the color in real life, hold it to your body, or just try it on to find a shirt that really fits you. Sure, free returns are a thing, but trying more than two or three sizes to find the one that really fits you is a major hassle if you need to send packages back and forth.

Broken_Hippo 8y ago
Ok. How many of those times were you swayed by an actual, local business instead of a chain? Do you happen to have mom & pop clothing stores? Can a local place - not just a local branch of a chain store but an actual local place - provide benefits over a chain?
- jakobegger 8y ago
  I was thinking more of physical stores in general, obviously chains are just as good for trying on stuff. I think the biggest benefit of small stores is specialisation. For example, we have a jeans store in our town -- they sell nothing but jeans, and they have a huge selection. Much better than any of the chains we have here. They are also the only store that stocks my size. I really like that I can buy a pair of jeans there and don't have to shorten them. Another thing that's really nice with small stores is that they can offer services that the chains cannot. Very often when I go to a store they just don't have my size any more. If it's a chain, they can sometimes check in their inventory system and see if a different store still has it in stock. But more often then not, it's the end of the season or something, and they're out, and there's no way to order it anymore. When the same thing happened to me in a local store, I was totally surprised when the sales guy just told me he'd call the seamstress and ask her to make another one in my size. A few days later I picked up my newly made shirt. Obviously, not all small mom-and-pop shops are like that -- but some are really great.

Broken_Hippo 8y ago

Ok. How many of those times were you swayed by an actual, local business instead of a chain? Do you happen to have mom & pop clothing stores? Can a local place - not just a local branch of a chain store but an actual local place - provide benefits over a chain?

jakobegger 8y ago
I was thinking more of physical stores in general, obviously chains are just as good for trying on stuff. I think the biggest benefit of small stores is specialisation. For example, we have a jeans store in our town -- they sell nothing but jeans, and they have a huge selection. Much better than any of the chains we have here. They are also the only store that stocks my size. I really like that I can buy a pair of jeans there and don't have to shorten them. Another thing that's really nice with small stores is that they can offer services that the chains cannot. Very often when I go to a store they just don't have my size any more. If it's a chain, they can sometimes check in their inventory system and see if a different store still has it in stock. But more often then not, it's the end of the season or something, and they're out, and there's no way to order it anymore. When the same thing happened to me in a local store, I was totally surprised when the sales guy just told me he'd call the seamstress and ask her to make another one in my size. A few days later I picked up my newly made shirt. Obviously, not all small mom-and-pop shops are like that -- but some are really great.