Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer
If independent bookstores aren't providing the public with a shopping experience they care about, and aren't offering prices that they want, then what is their benefit? There's no inherent good served by independent bookstores if they're not providing people with a service they want at a price they want to pay. What you describe as a problem is just changing markets due to changing tech; it's a story as old as the Industrial Revolution.
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Is not the benefit the ability for you to browse and learn about and compare before buying? It is already known that Amazon tolerates only a certain level of returns before strangling your account. Is not the benefit that the b&m provides you, the comaprison shopper, worth something?
Apparently not to you because you think the b&m should still sell for the same price as the lowest online price. Perhaps it would be best if all the b&m stores simply disappeared and you had to buy everything on faith.
B&M stores also provide another benefit that stores like Amazon currently are fighting -- they collect sales tax which helps fund many of the services that we want, such as garbage collection, municipal water supplies, and the like. Local b&m stores will never be able to match an online price that doesn't also collect local sales taxes.