The decline of Brick and Mortar

Ok, recently I went to a special sale as an electronics store that was closed to the public hoping that I could possibly find a few good deals. Unfortunately what I found was that when comparing the prices of hardware between stores and online retailers, even with the given discount and a $50 gift card I won in a drawing they still had the higher price when it came to the overwhelming majority of computers and electronics. Now, I knew that prices were higher at brick and mortar stores, but most chain stores in the last few years have started to reach a new level of high prices that I am somewhat tempted to call it gouging. However, the higher prices are partially due to the fact that on top of having shipping facilities, they also need money to pay for having that brick and mortar presence so to some extent it is understandable.

On the other hand, I honestly can no longer justify to myself spending extra money on the same product just cause it's a brick and mortar store when there are plenty of online stores to go to. In addition, something many people fail to take into effect when shopping brick and mortar is that most of the time they also get charged sales tax. (Which is 7% here.) Since our sales tax has partially funded the completely unjustified new stadium for the Indianapolis Colts that has horrible acoustics, the horrible joke best known as public schools, and the even worse joke known as my so-called city's so-called downtown. I don't mean to come off negative about it, but I honestly think that this money could be better spent on something more worthwhile than crap that I'll never use.

While I know that most people reading this already know that shopping online saves a few bucks, there are still plenty of people who haven't really learned this. With that in mind, hopefully given the recent economic issues, people will start learning that they are better off dumping brick and mortar when it comes to products that are readily available for purchase via online retailer. Now if only I could buy energy drinks in bulk online.....